Closure Orders did Not Trigger Communicable Disease Coverage The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, applying Ohio law, affirmed the district court’s dismissal of an insured’s claim for coverage of losses stemming from the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The insured, Dakota Girls, LLC, operates a number of private preschools which were forced to close after the... Read More
Case Dismissed Because Physical Loss Allegations Conclusory The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in an opinion written by Judge Alonso, applying Illinois law, dismissed an insured’s claim for coverage for business income losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The insured, Jump Buffalo Grove, LLC, argued that the virus caused physical loss or damage to their... Read More
Injunction Against Parallel CA Coverage Overbroad The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, applying West Virginia law, affirmed the circuit court’s authority to enter an anti-suit injunction against parallel coverage litigation regarding opioids pursued in California, but also held that the injunction itself was overbroad, constituting an abuse of discretion. The Supreme Court accordingly remanded the case for clarification... Read More
Defense Duty for Additional Insured Because “Willful and Wanton” Not an Independent Tort The Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District, in an opinion written by Justice Jorgensen, applying Illinois law, affirmed the circuit court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an additional insured, Community Unit School District 300 (the “District”), holding that the insurer, West Bend Mutual Insurance... Read More
Successfully tested state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) document review system for international corporate client with significant U.S. based mass-tort claim exposures. Client selected Hoke LLC to be first law firm to use the system to produce documents and to review other party documents using AI in a large coverage action. Worked with client to test and design AI protocols to... Read More
Design and Conduct an RFP to manage a Fortune 500 client with 60,000 mass tort insurance claims. Wrote and conducted RFP ultimately leading to the selection, purchase and implementation of an interactive state-of-the-art internet-based claims software solution. Successfully negotiated for the client’s third-party insurers to pay 100% of the $3M purchase price. Among the Design Requirements of the RFP included... Read More
Insurer Requirement of Evidence of Functional Limitations Reasonable in Determining Applicability of Self-Reported Symptoms Limitation The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, applying federal law, affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the insurer Unum Life Insurance Company of America (“Unum”), finding that its application of a plan’s self-reported symptoms (“SRS”) benefit limitation when faced... Read More
Negligence Claims Remain in State Court Despite Nursing Homes’ Defense Based on Federal PREP Act The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, applying federal law, affirmed the district court’s dismissal of negligence and wrongful-death claims for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, remanding the cases back to state court. The negligence and wrongful death complaints stemmed from the deaths... Read More
SOL Tolled Until Discovery Due to Broker Misrepresentations The Illinois Appellate Court for the First District, in an opinion written by Justice Walker, applying Illinois law, reversed the trial court’s dismissal of an insured’s, 2837-55 Irving Park, LLC (“Irving Park”), complaint as untimely, holding instead that Irving Park’s complaint adequately stated facts bringing it within the time allowed by the... Read More
Settlement Payments for Allegations of Fraud Insurable under Excess Policy The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in an opinion written by Judge Valderrama, applying Illinois law, granted the insureds’, Astellas US Holding, Inc. and Astellas US Pharma, Inc. (collectively “Astellas”), motion for summary judgment against their excess insurer, Federal Insurance Company (“Federal”), holding that Federal... Read More
