DENVER – A Colorado Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 2 upheld summary judgment for a pair of subcontractors named as third-party defendants in a construction defects action, agreeing that the claims were time-barred (Shaw Construction LLC v. United Builder Services Inc., et al., No. 11CA2351, Colo. App.; 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 172). LexisNexis® Mealey’s™ [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

NEW YORK – The court-appointed liquidation trustee of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) has properly determined that the net investment method for determining net equity for individual claimants should be used for carrying out his responsibilities under the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA), and the method is legally sound under the language of [...]

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A manicurist does not need to be a licensed cosmetologist to testify about standards for managing a hair salon, a 13th District Texas Court of Appeals panel held May 26 in affirming a negligence verdict for a woman who had a severe reaction to hair dye (J.C. Penney Corp. v. Yolanda [...]

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 [...]

SAN JOSE, Calif. – An insured was not required to submit to an appraisal process prior to seeking declaratory relief as to the legality of the insurer’s policies surrounding that process, a California appeals panel ruled May 24, reversing a lower court’s grant of demurrer to the insurer (The Doan v. State Farm General Insurance [...]