March 2011

   Addressing which of the two insurers' policies were responsible for the loss, the Indiana Court of Appeals found both policies were triggered because property damage occurred within each insurer's policy period.  Grange Mut. Cas. Co. v. West Bend Mut. Ins. Co., 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 442 (Ind. Ct. App. March 15, 2011).

   Cincinnati

  Today, we link to a post from DoorFly.com addressing the private mortgage insurance.  [see post here]. DoorFly.com's  cite is: http://blog.doorfly.com/.  The post explains what private mortgage insurance is:

Abbreviated PMI, private mortgage insurance is an added policy that protects lenders. This is required in a majority of cases where the borrower is unable to come

   An article I wrote on ensuing loss was recently published in the ABA’s Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee’s Coverage Magazine (article attached here.)  The article discusses first party property policies providing for ensuing loss.  The ensuing loss provision may read something like this: “We will pay for resulting loss caused by a Peril Insured.”  Accordingly, although

   The New York Court of Appeals considered the impact of competing “other insurance” provisions located in both a CGL policy and a D&O policy.  See Fieldston Property Owners Assoc., Inc. v. Hermitage Ins. Co., Inv., 2011 N.Y. LEXIS 254 (N.Y. Feb. 24, 2011).

   In the underlying case, Fieldston’s officers were charged with making false

   Georgia has joined the growing legion of high state courts to find that faulty workmanship can arise from an occurrence, invoking coverage for a contractor.  See Am. Empire Surplus Lines Ins. Co. v. Hathaway Dev. Co., Inc., 2011 Ga. LEXIS 177 (Ga. March 7, 2011). 

   Hathaway Development Co., a general contractor, sued

   Our firm has had many questions on insurance related issues since Friday's Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan.  The following outline is quick primer on insurance coverage related to natural catastrophes.

INSURING PROPERTY FOR CATASTROPHES

●          Cost of Natural Disasters:

∙   Hurricane Katrina in 2005 cost insurers and reinsurers $62.2 billion.    

∙   Hurricane Ike in 2008 cost the insurance

   The ABA’s Section of Litigation, Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee’s annual conference was held in Tucson on March 3-5, 2011.  My colleagues, Rina Carmel, Esq., of Carlson, Calladine & Peterson LLP, and Lisa M. Shusto, P.E., of Exponent Failure Analysis Associates, and I led two lively and engaging discussions on ensuing loss provisions in property