We’ve come a long way since the days of Timothy Leary—both in terms of marijuana legalization, and in the diversity of business insurance products that have reached the market to insure marijuana-related risks. As of this blog post, more than 20 states have legalized marijuana for medical use, including eight…
Policyholder Pulse
Florida, Sebo and the Concurrent Causation Doctrine
The Florida Supreme Court recently issued a widely reported decision, Sebo v. American Home Assurance Co., which applied the concurrent cause doctrine in ruling that an all-risk homeowner’s insurance policy provides coverage when damage is the result of multiple events—so long as at least one of them is a covered…
Are You Prepared for the Leaning Tower of … San Francisco?
In 1173, builders broke ground in Pisa, Italy, on the Torre de Pisa (that is, the Tower of Pisa). At over 183 feet, it was to be a grand statement—remember, this was 1173, not 2016. But the story is not all roses. The tower began immediately to tilt—by the time…
Keeping an Eye on the Duty to Defend and Faulty Workmanship in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania policyholders need to keep their eyes on the details when it comes to defending faulty workmanship claims. What you see—or think you see—is not always what you get. In Bealer v Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania held on November 16,…
Collateral Damage: Don’t Let Your Workers’ Comp Program Tie Up Your Cash and Credit
No matter the industry, businesses continue to face ever-escalating workers’ comp insurance premiums. In an effort to keep costs down, many companies are turning to an increasingly popular alternative to traditional “guaranteed cost” or “retrospective premium” workers’ comp programs: “large deductible” (LD) policies. LD policies theoretically give businesses greater control…
A Bad Faith Cause of Action in New York? Maybe the Deck Is No Longer Stacked
New York is a tricky forum for policyholders pursuing insurance coverage claims. In particular, New York jurisprudence has long failed to recognize and address causes of action for bad faith. Historically, insureds seeking to impose extracontractual liability have been required to meet the high bar of showing “egregious tortious conduct”…
Use Gap-Filler Endorsements to Cover that Forgotten “Location”
The failure to include and/or accurately describe property locations is among the most common points of tension we see in litigation over wide-area catastrophe loss issues (earthquakes, floods, hurricanes) between the insured and its property insurance carriers. However, many first-party property policies offer devices to ensure that the policyholder is…
Insurers Beware: Florida Courts May Award Attorney’s Fees for Any Incorrect Denial of Coverage
Florida is a hotbed for insurance claims, from run-of-the mill auto accidents to pervasive construction defects to post-hurricane business interruptions, and everything in between. Insurance companies are likely to deny many of those claims—whether or not that denial is proper—hoping that their policyholders will be unwilling to spend the time…
Does Your Computer Fraud Policy Cover the Hacking of the Human Mind?
While our brains may feel like they are fused with the computers, smart phones, and other devices we use on a constant basis, a direct connection between these machines and our brains is still (mostly) a thing of the future. So, even as companies continue to strengthen and refine their…
Think Globally: Insurance Analysis for Multinational Companies
Insurance is not only a risk transfer tool, but also a valuable asset. Certain coverages, however, are not purchased or pursued by multinational companies transacting business in the United States because there are nuanced differences between international and U.S. insurance programs and law. These companies, often with global offices, will…