In “Court of Appeals Finds That Insurers May Not Participate in Bankruptcy Negotiations by Invoking an Insured’s Duty to Cooperate,” colleagues James P. Bobotek and Andrew V. Alfano examined a recent ruling by the Fourth Circuit that found, among other things, that an insurer was not a “party in interest” and lacked…
Amidst the recent surge in ransomware attacks on U.S. businesses—with crypto criminals and sometimes State actors invading and encrypting computer and operating systems and extorting funds in exchange for the decryption key—one new ploy deserves attention from our perspective as insurance coverage lawyers. A new scheme involves demanding that the…
In the last decade, per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFAS) increasingly have become the subject of actual or potential liability for a widening group of companies, with potential liability arising from both private tort lawsuits and governmental enforcement of environmental laws and regulations. In a recent Practical Guidance® Practice Note, Insurance…
Insurance coverage disputes often turn on the meaning of the specific words used in a policy. Norwegian Hull Club v. North Star Fishing Co., currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, presents a twist—it turns on the meaning of a blank space. Last month, U.S.…
In North Carolina, California, Wisconsin and Illinois Sue Companies over PFAS “Forever Chemicals Contamination, colleagues Reza Zarghamee, Mark J. Plumer, Jillian Marullo, Rebecca M. Lee and Ashley L. Meredith examine the lawsuits, along with new state prohibitions and reporting requirements imposed on manufacturers and distributors of products containing PFAS, that signal increased initiative by states to…
Earlier in 2022, CBRE forecasted a 14.1% year-over-year increase in construction costs by year-end 2022, as labor and material costs continue to rise, despite the expectation that overall cost inflation for materials would begin to cool by the end of the year. Commercial construction costs have indeed increased, as Turner…
In 2020 and 2021, Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) were all the rage. A SPAC is a “blank check company,” publicly traded, and organized for the purpose of merging with a private company. It’s a mechanism for a private operating company to go public without doing its own IPO. Though…
In “Policyholders Are Not to Blame for Social Inflation,” a recent article for Law360, Benjamin Tievsky explains why policyholders should be extremely skeptical of social inflation arguments put forward by the insurance industry.
Recently, amid the tempest of media coverage surrounding Supreme Court oral arguments in the case of Students for Fair Admission v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, another federal court quietly issued a dispositive order in related coverage litigation, holding that Harvard’s excess carrier, Zurich, had no coverage obligation in…
The Russia/Ukraine conflict has led to a monumental decoupling of Russia from the global economy, with dire consequences for many industries—including the aircraft leasing industry. Western governments’ still-evolving sanctions regime has inspired retaliatory decrees by the Russian Federation, which collectively have engendered significant financial losses for companies doing business with…