A commentary on insurance coverage issues in Hawaii and beyond
In another round of litigation involving coverage issues between Montrose Chemical Corporation and its insurers, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Montrose, adopting vertical exhaustion of excess policies. Montrose Chem. Corp. of Calif. v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County, 9 Ca. 5th 215 (2020).
In 1990…
The multi-peril policy did not provide coverage for ransom paid to a hacker in order to retrieve its servers. G&G Oil Co. of Ind. v. Cont' W. Ins. Co., 2020 Ind. App. LEXIS 126 (March 31, 2020).
G&G Oil Company held a multi-peril commercial policy from Continental. The Commercial Crime…
The court found there was no coverage for the insureds' alleged negligent failure to construct a building. Evanston Ins. Co. v. DCM Contracting, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 63977 (N.D. Ga. Feb. 28, 2020).
Turning Point Church sued DCM Contracting for faulty workmanship on a construction project. Turning Point sent a…
The court granted the insurer's motion for summary judgment, finding that the insured's broker was not an agent of the carrier. Maxum Indem. Co. v. Broken Spoke Bar & Grill, 2020 U.S. District. LEXIS 49736 (W.D. Ky. March 23, 2020).
The insured argued that "insurance Agent Clark" assured him that…
The Hawaii Insurance Commissioner issued Memorandum 2020-4A on April 27, 2020, waiving certain requirements for insurers and to give instructions and guidelines.
First, the Insurance Division will not regard the following as unfair trade practices or unfair methods of competition under Haw. Rev. Stat, Art. 13:
. Waiving of fees, penalties,
…
The court found that a nonprofit's donation receipts were included in its revenues for determining its business interruption claim. Alley Theatre v. Hanover Ins. Co., 2020 U.S Dist. LEXIS 52393 (S.D Tex. March 26, 2020).
Alley Theatre was closed due to Hurricane Harvey. It received donations after it was closed.
In answering a certified question from the Fifth Circuit, the Texas Supreme Court held that the eight-corners rule applied when determining the duty to defend even if the policy did not promise to defend suits that were "groundless, false or fraudulent." Richards v. State Farm Lloyds, 2020 WL 1313782 (Tex. March 20…
The Alaska Supreme Court remanded to the trial court to determine whether the parties reached agreement in their settlement on the number of occurrences. McCormick v. Chippewa, Inc., 2020 Alaska LEXIS 20 (Alaska March 20, 2020).
Brent McCormick was injured while working aboard the vessel owned by Chippewa, Inc. McCormick…
The insured was covered under his homeowner's policy when two visitors to an uninsured location were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning. Green Mountain Ins. Co., Inc. v. Wakelin, 140 N.E. 3d 418 (Mass. 2020).
Wakelin owned a cabin without electricity in a remote location. He purchased a gasoline-powered generator. He…
The Hawaii Insurance Commissioner has requested that admitted and non-admitted insurers offering policies in Hawaii take special consideration of policyholder impacted by COVID-19. The March 27, 2020 bulletin reads:
The impact on individuals and businesses due to COVID-19 nationwide is evident in the daily news coverage. The anticipated negative impact on individuals and
…
