Expert Analysis

Legal Risks Rise As Construction-Site Drone Use Soars

Construction companies using drones face mounting legal risks as Federal Aviation Administration compliance requir... (more story)

Navigating Insurance And Contract Risks Amid Hormuz Crisis

The Strait of Hormuz has become a legal choke point where contractual obligations, insurance coverage and internat... (more story)

Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

Notable insurance class action decisions from the first quarter of the year included reminders about the statute o... (more story)

Property More

Insurer Must Cover Water Damage At Ind. School, Court Told

An Indiana-based Christian school said it is entitled to tap into more than $12 million in coverage for a sprinkler system leak and resulting water damage that left its building uninhabitable, telling a federa... (more story)

Texas Justices Order Appraisal In $40M Flood Damage Dispute

Texas' highest court on Friday conditionally granted a mandamus petition by insurers seeking to compel appraisal in litigation over roughly $40 million in water damage to a Dallas property owned by a real esta... (more story)

Insurer Owes No Coverage For Mall Pollution, Fla. Judge Says

A Florida federal judge ruled an insurance company doesn't have to provide coverage to the owner of a California shopping center contaminated with dry cleaner chemicals, finding that benefits were properly den... (more story)

AI Reshaping Brokers' Work, Lockton Data Head Says

AI is delivering efficiency and new capabilities to insurance brokers. Claude Yoder, the chief data, analytics and digital officer for Lockton, spoke to Law360 about the role of AI in placing policies, aggrega... (more story)

Insurer Needn't Cover Real Estate Co.'s $330K Arbitration Bill

An insurer is not on the hook for more than $330,000 in defense costs that a commercial real estate company and its manager incurred in arbitration with investors, a Washington federal court ruled Thursday, sa... (more story)

Insurance Litigation Week In Review

Two Chubb insurers must defend an upstate New York town against an environmental contamination claim, a German shipping company and a marine insurer will pay $17 million for damage to a coral reef near Puerto ... (more story)

AIG Says Homeowners Waived Bid For New Damages Trial

An AIG unit fought against a new trial this week in a dispute over the claims process for damage from Hurricane Irma to a $95 million oceanfront mansion, arguing that the homeowners failed to prove compensable... (more story)

NC Insurance Dept. Properly Revoked Appraiser's License

A North Carolina state appeals court on Wednesday affirmed the state Department of Insurance's revocation of the license of a motor vehicle damage appraiser, finding he violated ethical standards by disparagin... (more story)

AI Data Center Boom May Spur Wave Of Toxic Tort Suits

Nascent litigation matters against data center operators, set against limited government regulation and a growing body of public health research, suggests we may be on the cusp of an era of mass toxic tort cla... (more story)

Insurer Loses Bid To Recoup $3.4M Coverage For Grill Fire

An insurer attempting to recoup more than $3.4 million it paid to homeowners whose house was greatly damaged in a grill fire lacks the proof needed to claim the negligence by the grill-maker caused the fire, a... (more story)

General Liability More

Insurer Says No Coverage Above $1M For Injured Biker Row

The insurer for an auto repossession company and one of its drivers told a Georgia federal court that it does not owe more than its $1 million limit in a case involving the driver hitting a child on a bike, sa... (more story)

Insurer Needn't Cover Pre-Policy Losses, 8th Circ. Says

A quadriplegic woman is not entitled to benefits under a long-term care policy, the Eighth Circuit affirmed, saying the policy expressly states that it does not cover the loss of ability to perform daily livin... (more story)

Liberty Mutual Gets $103M Age Bias Verdict Cut To $20M

A California judge slashed a $103 million jury verdict in favor of a former Liberty Mutual employee who said she was treated poorly and fired because of her age, concluding that the severity of the harassment ... (more story)

Insurer Says Late Notice Warrants Repayment For Crash Deal

The excess insurer for a construction company said it is entitled to recoup amounts it contributed to settle an underlying crash dispute that resulted in a $17.3 million verdict against its policyholder, telli... (more story)

Colorado Justices Decline To Rehear Insurer Cooperation Suit

The Colorado Supreme Court denied Monday a policyholder's bid for the court to rehear his case after the justices dismissed his claims last month and limited the reach of a Colorado law addressing procedural r... (more story)

Progressive Ducks $1M Crash Liability After Policy Reversal

A Progressive unit had no duty to cover a $1 million default judgment stemming from a 2019 tractor-trailer crash because the truck involved had been retroactively removed from the insurer's commercial auto pol... (more story)

Insurer Doesn't Owe Coverage For Missouri Tree-Cutting Suit

A Missouri man is not entitled to coverage for a suit claiming he trespassed on a farm's property and cut down valuable trees, a federal court ruled, citing a policy exclusion for property damage arising out o... (more story)

Liberty Left Client Info Vulnerable To Hackers, Suit Alleges

Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. faces a proposed consumer class action alleging it failed to effectively safeguard private information for current and former clients after hackers claimed they stole information a... (more story)

NJ Justices Bar PI Damages For 'Collectible' Future Med Bills

New Jersey's highest court unanimously ruled that the state's no-fault insurance scheme for victims of automobile accidents bars claimants from asking a jury to award future medical expenses if those projected... (more story)

Chubb Units Must Cover Environmental Contamination Claim

Two Chubb insurers must defend an upstate New York town against a state environmental department's claim concerning a regional airport's contamination by so-called forever chemicals unless and until they can e... (more story)

Specialty Lines More

Under Armour Says Insurers Shouldn't Get Repayment Interest

Under Armour told a Maryland federal court that the insurers it reimbursed after the Fourth Circuit capped its coverage for a securities class action, government investigations and derivative matters at $100 m... (more story)

NJ Justices Back Coverage Exclusion Reservation Of Rights

The New Jersey Supreme Court on Monday said an insurer doesn't waive its right to rely on a policy exclusion after initially defending a claim, backing Berkley Insurance Co. in a coverage dispute stemming from... (more story)

'LLMjacking' Prompts New Cyber Limits, Policyholder Training

Law360 Insurance Authority talks to Reed Smith LLP’s Stephanie Gee about how carriers are responding to “LLMjacking,” or the act of a hacker using stolen credentials to gain access to a company’s large languag... (more story)

Safeguarding RWI Coverage As Materiality Focus Persists

As first-quarter broker claims reports reveal that materiality disputes remain a key driver of representations and warranties insurance claims, the scarce case law in this area indicates that including a mater... (more story)

Insurer Beats Calif. Health Group's Discovery Costs Suit

A California federal judge said Wednesday that an insurer did not have to reimburse the state's largest private health foundation for roughly $400,000 in discovery costs it incurred during an executive's now-s... (more story)

NC Law Firm Can Pursue Coverage In $510K Loan Fraud Row

A North Carolina federal judge on Tuesday said a professional liability insurer must face claims that it has to defend a law firm against allegations it was responsible for a $510,000 fraudulent home loan, fin... (more story)

SVB's $73M Fraud Losses Not Covered, Insurers Say

Two insurers said they owe no coverage for a fraudulent scheme that caused the failed Silicon Valley Bank to lose $73 million, telling a North Carolina federal court that the bank has not satisfied all require... (more story)

How Geopolitical Risk Affects Data Center Coverage

Escalating tensions with Iran risk disrupting the energy and infrastructure inputs that support data center operations, raising insurance coverage concerns for operators affected by events far outside their ph... (more story)

Broker Says It's Not To Blame For Harvard's Lack Of Coverage

An insurance broker told a Massachusetts federal court that it had no common law duty to report claims made against Harvard University to the school's excess insurers in a suit seeking to recover legal fees Ha... (more story)

Ga. Lawyer Says Fraud Coverage Ruling Misread State Law

A Georgia attorney on Wednesday urged a federal judge to undo a recent ruling declaring his professional liability insurer doesn't owe him coverage in an underlying lawsuit alleging the lawyer schemed with a c... (more story)