BALTIMORE – An insurer is liable for less than 45 percent of a jury verdict entered in favor of a tenant who sustained injuries as a result of lead paint in the insured’s property because the insurer can be liable only for the time that it insured the property owner, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court [...]

DENVER – An underlying patent infringement complaint against an insured potentially asserts advertising injury arising from the misappropriation of advertising ideas, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 17, reversing and remanding a lower court’s finding that the insured’s five commercial general liability insurers have no duty to defend it against the underlying [...]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 3 denied a petition for writ of certiorari filed by an insured seeking review of whether an insurer is collaterally estopped from enforcing an arbitration clause in a settlement agreement pertaining to asbestos-related injury claims (George V. Hamilton Inc. v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co., No. [...]

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A liability insurance policy’s “care, custody, and control” exclusion precludes all of a claimant’s property damage claims to its cattle, a Minnesota appeals panel held Aug. 22, reversing a lower court’s ruling against the insurer (Gaza Beef Inc. v. Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company, No. A11-444, Minn. App.; 2011 Minn. App. Unpub. [...]

FRESNO, Calif. – A California federal judge on July 26 granted a powdered milk manufacturer and its cargo insurer’s stipulation of voluntarily dismissal of a breach of contract lawsuit prompted by the destruction of 23 of the manufacturer’s powdered milk loads stemming from Hurricane Katrina (Dairy America Inc. v. New York Marine and General Insurance [...]

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – There are several material disagreements regarding what occurred from the time an insured’s quarrying operation began in or about 2001, the Rhode Island Supreme Court found July 12, vacating and remanding a lower court’s grant of a commercial general liability insurer’s motion for partial summary judgment as to coverage for an underlying [...]

PHILADELPHIA – A commercial crime insurance policy’s discovery clause precluded coverage for an ATM service provider insured’s $ 5.8 million losses stemming from alleged theft by an armored car company because the losses occurred after the insured discovered prior losses caused by the company, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held June 9 (Diebold [...]

ATLANTA – A professional liability insurance policy provides coverage for losses stemming from an insured’s erroneous transfer of client funds from its trust account, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held May 27, reversing and remanding a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the insurer (Nardella Chong P.A. v. Medmarc Casualty Insurance [...]

ORLANDO, Fla. – Partners of an accounting firm had knowledge that the firm’s principal’s acts or omissions in connection with a client’s representation might reasonably be expected to be the basis of an underlying professional negligence claim, a Florida federal judge held May 16, granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment (Cuthill & Eddy LLC, [...]