A commentary on insurance coverage issues in Hawaii and beyond
Utilizing a novel argument, the insured contended it had no duty to defend the additional insured until there was a finding of fault against the named insured. The court rejected this argument in 373 Wythe Realty, Inc. v. Indian Harbor Ins. Co., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45947 (E.D. N.Y. May 11, 2010).
Wythe…
Competing motions for summary judgment regarding the duty to defend an additional insured were both denied by the court in Detroit Public Schools Program Mgt. Team, LLC v. Valley Forge Ins. Co, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40904 (E.D. Mich. April 27, 2010).
The Detroit Public Schools Program Management Team was organized to act as an…
Lloyd’s, along with other excess insurers, recently filed suit against BP, seeking a declaration that there is no obligation to cover BP as an additional insured in policies issued to Transocean Ltd. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London v. BP P.L.C., No. 4:10-cv-01823 (S.D. Tex. filed May 21, 2010) (See Complaint).
Transocean owns the…
An ambiguous endorsement on the scope of coverage for additional insureds meant the insurer had a duty to defend. See Ames Const., Inc. v. Intermountain Indus., Inc., 2010 U.S. LEXIS 41588 (D. Mont. April 28, 2010).
Ames was the general contractor on a project to expand and upgrade the Missoula Wastewater Treatment…
Determining the "Cost of Replacement" of the insureds' home was before the court in Nunez v Allstate Ins Co., 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 8362 (5th Cir. April 20, 2010).
The insureds' home in Louisiana was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The insureds received flood policy limits of $75,000 for structural damage and $30,000…
Ever since the Ninth Circuit made an Erie guess in Burlington Ins. Co. v. Oceanic Design & Constr. Inc., 383 F.3d 940 (9th Cir. 2004), that the Hawai’i appellate courts would find that construction defects do not constitute an occurrence under a CGL policy, coverage practitioners have waited for an answer. Today, the Hawai`i Intermediate Court of Appeals…
The insurer's right to compel an appraisal under the policy was addressed in In Re Capitol County Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 3060 (Tex. Ct. App. April 27, 2010).
Following Hurricane Ike, the insured submitted a claim for damage to her home to the insurer, Capitol County. After determining the…
Brown was injured when a passenger in a car on Kauai. See Brown v. Progressive Direct Ins. Co., 2010 Haw. App. LEXIS 211 (Haw. Ct. App. May 5, 2010). The driver of the vehicle in which Brown rode was uninsured. The driver of the second vehicle involved in the accident fled the accident scene.
At…
The recently completed session of the Hawaii Legislature enacted six insurance-related bills. We summarize each below.
SB 2017 – Insurance Claims Adjusters; Crop Insurance
The bill allows a claims adjuster who adjusts only workers' compensation claims or crop insurance claims to take an examination approved by the Risk Management Agency of the United…
Whether an exclusion for coverage of bodily injury to an employee of "the insured" applied to an additional insured was the issue in James McHugh Construction Co. v. Zurich Am Ins. Co., 2010 Ill. App. LEXIS 318 (Ill. Ct. App. April 13, 2010).
McHugh, the general contractor, hired JMS Electric, Inc. to…
