A commentary on insurance coverage issues in Hawaii and beyond
The Federal District Court, District of Hawaii, found the earth movement exclusion barred coverage for the contractor when a landslide damaged the property. North River Ins. Co. v. H.K. Constr. Corp., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90110 (D. Haw. May 22, 2020).
Bruce and Yulin Bingle sued HK for damage caused…
The Washington Supreme Court found that a title insurer breached its duty to defend when it was discovered that a Native American tribe had rights to access the land under a treaty with the State of Washington. Robbins v. Mason County Title Insurance Co., 2020 Wash. LEXIS 288 (Wash. May 7, 2020).…
The Eleventh Circuit, following Georgia law, found the cause theory meant there was a single occurrence in a multi-car accident. Grange Mut. Cas. Co. v Slaughter, 2020 U.S. App LEXIS 14057 (11th Cir. May 1, 2020).
Driving a truck owned by Four Seasons Trucking (FST), Mark Lucas crossed the center…
The plaintiff's failure to timely name an expert witness in his bad faith action led to sanctions being awarded against him in favor of the insurer. Black v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co., 2020 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 2477 (Cal. Ct. App. April 23, 2020).
After Black's claim was denied by…
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.
