A commentary on insurance coverage issues in Hawaii and beyond
The federal district court for the district of Connecticut has faced a slew of collapse cases, recently dismissing several such cases.
The policies under consideration in each case cover the "entire collapse of a covered building structure" or "the entire collapse of part of a covered building structure." The collapse must…
The Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) ruled in favor of the insurer in deciphering the policy's UIM coverage. Kohatsu v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 2017 Haw. App. LEXIS 388 (Sept. 29, 2017).
The insureds were in an automobile accident, which resulted in a $300,000 settlement with the…
The South Dakota Supreme Court found coverage in favor of the general contractor who was sued for alleged faulty workmanship. Owners Ins. Co. v. Tibke Constr., Inc., 2017 S.D. LEXIS 106 (S.D. Aug. 23, 2017).
The homeowners hired Tibke Construction Inc. as general contractor to build a new house. Tibke…
The Fifth Circuit construed a contract requiring indemnity and an obligation to provide insurance coverage as creating separate duties. ExxonMobil Corp. v. Elec. Reliability Services, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 16031 (5th Cir. Aug. 22, 2017).
Exxon contracted with Electrical Reliability Services (ERS) to perform electrical work and services at Exxon's chemical facility…
The insured's motion to reconsider an order granting the insurer summary judgment challenges the insured's theory it was an additional insured was rejected by the federal district court. Hanover Ins. Co. v. Superior Labor Servs., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133127 (E.D. La. Aug. 21, 2017).
The court previously granted Lexington…
The court found that the insurer properly denied a claim made under the claims-made policy during the second policy period when the incident occurred during the first policy period. Alaska Interstate Constr. v. Crum & Forster Specialty Ins. Co., 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 15997 (9th Cir. Aug. 22, 2017).
Crum…
In a decision by Judge Sutton, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court's ruling that a falling tree causing one injury and two deaths was the result of a single occurrence. Evanston Ins. Co. v. Housing Auth. of Somerset, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 15199 (6th Cir. Aug. 15, 2017).
A…
The insurer failed to present adequate evidence on summary judgment that damage caused by the collapse of a swimming pool was not covered. Klein v. State Farm Ins. Co., 2017 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3030 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. July 11, 2017).
Klein notified State Farm that his in-ground pool collapsed on…
The Archdiocese failed to plead breach of contract against the County for failure to name the Archdiocese as an additional insured under the liability policy. Pachella v. Archdiocese of Philadelphia, 2017 Pa. Commw. Unpub. LEXIS 595 (Pa. Commw. Ct. Aug. 14, 2017).
Richard and Pachella filed a complaint against the…
My colleagues Rina Carmel, Karin Aldama and I authored an article entitled, "To Settle or Not to Settle? Bad-Faith Implications in Resolving Underlying Actions." The article appears in the current edition of Coverage, published by the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the ABA. The article is here.
The article addresses the
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