Insured’s unreasonable untimely notice of environmental claims prejudicial to insurer An appellate court in Indiana, applying Indiana law, affirmed the grant of summary judgment to an insurer after the insured waited more than a decade to notify the insurer that it had made payments in several suits brought against it. Franke Plating Works (“Franke Plating”) is an Indiana company that has... Read More

CA Fed. Ct. affirms BK Ct.’s award of IL §155 of fees, expenses, interest, statutory penalty and policy limits The Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California awarded the Trustee of the CFB/WFB Liquidation Trust extra-contractual damages against Continental Casual Company (“Continental”) under Illinois Insurance Code 215 ILCS 5/155 for vexatious and unreasonable conduct due to its failure to... Read More

“Discovery rule” doesn’t toll Statute of Limitation in negligent procurement case against agent (2 Dissenters) The Illinois Supreme Court, applying Illinois law, held that a two-year statute of limitations applies to an insureds’ claim that their insurance agent negligently sold them a deficient insurance policy.  Moreover, the Illinois Supreme Court held that the cause of action for negligent procurement against... Read More

The District Court of Massachusetts, applying Massachusetts law, accepted and adopted the recommendation of a Magistrate Judge that ACE Property and Casualty Insurance Co. (“ACE”) breached its duty to defend its insured, State Line Laundry Services (“State Line Laundry”), in a dispute with Plaistow Project, LLC (“Plaistow”).  The court also accepted and adopted the Magistrate’s denial of ACE’s motion... Read More

A New York trial court, applying New York law, ruled that an excess insurer failed to meet its burden on summary judgment to prove that a “prior and pending” litigation or investigation exclusion applied to bar coverage. The insurance coverage case stemmed from an SEC proceeding and criminal prosecutions alleging Platinum Management (NY) LLC’s (“Platinum”) and other defendants were involved... Read More

In a 4-3 decision, the Supreme Court of Florida, applying Florida law, reversed the Fourth District Court of Appeals and restored a bad faith finding against the insurer because the Fourth District misapplied Florida precedent and failed to properly apply the directed verdict standard.  The Florida Supreme Court found that the Fourth District’s bad faith analysis lacked the important... Read More

A third district Illinois appellate court, in an opinion written by Judge Jodi M. Hoos, upheld the decision of the circuit court that damage caused from the seepage of below ground water through a floor was excluded under a policy which excluded coverage for damage caused by “water below the surface of the ground.” Central Illinois Compounding, Inc. d/b/a Preckshot... Read More

Illinois Federal Judge John Robert Blakey, applying Illinois law, found that ten underlying actions were related, and thus, based on the policy language, constituted a single “Claim”.  Therefore, the policy at issue was exhausted because the insurer had already satisfied the single “Claim” limit. Lloyd’s Syndicate 3624 (“Hiscox”) issued a renewal professional liability and general liability policy to Biological Resource... Read More

The Seventh Circuit, applying Indiana law, upheld the lower court’s opinion that an excess insurer had no duty to indemnify its insured for the insured’s customer’s lost profits that the insured became liable due to the failure of the insured’s product.  In making its ruling, the court noted it was possible that the lost profits were covered under the... Read More

Insurers Have An “All Sums” Duty to Defend Long-Tail Claims. A New York Federal Magistrate Judge, applying New York law, issued a Report and Recommendation finding that insurers with a duty to defend a policyholder against asbestos bodily injury claims have an “all sums” duty to pay all defense costs up front.  In other words, a pro rata allocation of... Read More