The problem is that historical asbestos risk is very expensive, and there is almost no current market offering asbestos insurance for historical operations, including the manufacture of asbestos products. A few major reinsurers will sell you asbestos insurance, but the premiums are incredibly expensive, and the policies frequently contain stop-losses that, if triggered, return the exposure to the policyholder... Read More
You might assume selecting a Chicago or Illinois insurance policyholder coverage law firm would be easy. Indeed, there are several good candidates if you have an ordinary insurance claim. However, finding an Illinois policyholder coverage law firm for more technical matters can be difficult, especially for the more complex corporate insurance disputes. There are many large law firms in Chicago... Read More
Maximize Assets/ Minimize Liability Successfully confronting a mass tort situation such as asbestos, environmental or other long-tail claims requires that you maximize your insurance assets while simultaneously leveraging them to minimize your liabilities. If these needs are not addressed proactively and comprehensively it can endanger your company’s financial security and distract you from your mission. Best practice is to engage... Read More
5 Ways Hoke LLC Can Help You Secure Asbestos Insurance Coverage Analyze If You Have a Valid Claim: We will evaluate the asbestos claims against you to determine if your claims are covered by your historical “occurrence” based insurance policies. Most all asbestos claims are covered by old commercial and comprehensive general liability (“CGL”) policies (primary and excess) from 1950 through... Read More
Asbestos Insurance Recovery focuses on locating and identifying historical liability insurance policies to provide coverage for your company’s current asbestos and environmental claims. CGL and other commercial policies up until 1986 did not contain asbestos exclusions. These policies typically provided “occurrence” based coverage, which means that they still pay for “bodily injury” claims that don’t manifest until decades later. ... Read More
Overturning a trial court ruling, a Florida Court of Appeals held the “your products” exclusion barred coverage for defective doors and windows manufactured by the policyholder. The trial court had found the exclusion inapplicable because the product was materially altered by the addition of transoms instead finding that they did not materially change the inherent function and nature of... Read More
A Texas federal court applied an absolute pollution exclusion (“Total Pollution Exclusion Endorsement”) in a Commercial General Liability Policy to bar defense coverage for a Louisiana third-party pollution claim rejecting the argument that the exclusion did not apply because it did not specifically exclude a defense for the storage, transportation and handling of contaminants. The court found that the... Read More
Fidelity insurer’s employee dishonesty exclusion does not automatically apply when executives take out $5.4M in fraudulent loans for their personal benefit (5th Cir. Fed.). The Federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals found that a fidelity insurance policy may have to respond when executives take out a $5.4M in fraudulent loans under their company’s name and keep the proceeds despite an... Read More
