As the powerful storm that is Hurricane Harvey looms in the Gulf of Mexico, Houston attorneys Vince Morgan and Tamara Bruno discuss what businesses and other organizations in the affected area should do immediately in order to maximize insurance recovery. Key Takeaways: Category 3 Hurricane Harvey is projected to have…
Policyholder Pulse
Developments in South Carolina: Harleysville Revisited
In two posts earlier this year—South Carolina May No Longer Hold Insurers’ Reservations and The Insurer’s Mixed-Coverage Burden—we told you about an important decision issued by the South Carolina Supreme Court in Harleysville Group Insurance v. Heritage Communities, Inc. Those posts were written shortly after the court issued its original…
Don’t Be Caught Napping – Your Insurance May Not Be Exhausted
As the cliché saying goes: “When it comes to love, never settle for less than you deserve.” But when it comes to insurance coverage, sometimes settling for less than the full limits of a policy is an effective compromise that saves time and avoids costly litigation. However, if losses may…
The Best Defense Is a Good Offense: Any Cyber Defense Strategy Must Include Cyber Insurance
Every single industry or business in this day and age has either been the victim of a cyber attack or is concerned they will be next. A few examples from the last couple of months show how widespread the problem is. In June, a global ransomeware attack quickly spread across…
Think You Don’t Need Cyber Insurance? This Recent Data Breach Class Action Ruling May Change Your Mind
Cyber insurance continues to be one of the hottest topics in the insurance industry. In the last several years it has evolved from a little-known specialty product to a standard purchase for some corporate risk departments. By now, most companies generally are aware that cyber attacks present substantial risks. Many…
Your Broker May Be Wrong: Why Your D&O Policies Should Cover Delaware Appraisal Proceedings
It’s now accepted wisdom that virtually all public company mergers and acquisitions will be challenged with at least one lawsuit—over 95% of them are. A less well-publicized form of challenge—and one that is both fascinating and perplexing for those interested in securities litigation—is the unique creature of Delaware law known…
Startups Beware: California Expands Workers’ Comp to Include Corporate Officers, Directors and Working Partners
The startup guys in the hit television series Silicon Valley might be surprised to learn that the California legislature has expanded the scope of mandatory Workers’ Comp coverage to include their corporate officers, directors and working partners. The new law, effective January 1, 2017, sweeps in a broad range of…
Beauty and the Beast: Insurance in the Fashion Industry
Fashion is sexy; insurance is not. So it’s easy to think of the two separately. But there are many points of intersection. Some of those intersections are not industry-specific: like other industries, fashion—design houses, retailers, textile manufacturers, modeling agencies—carries property, D&O, cyber, and many other lines of insurance. But unique…
Getting to the Closing Table: Is Rep & Warranty Insurance the Answer?
The news has been rife of late with announcements of intended mergers, including Amazon and Whole Foods, Sprint and Comcast, and the National Enquirer and Time Inc., to name a few. Although such deals are nothing new, the use of representations and warranties insurance (R&W insurance) is increasingly becoming a…
The D&O Cramdown: Triggering Side A DIC Coverage When an Underlying D&O Carrier Declines Coverage
A great deal of premium exchanges hands to buy the Difference in Condition (DIC) or “drop-down” component of excess Side A DIC coverage. Yet policyholders, brokers, and to a large extent, D&O liability carriers have surprisingly little understanding of just how that standard coverage feature is triggered—or how it works…