Please click the link below to view “If All Else Fails, Bang the Table.” Adobe Reader is required to view the bulletin. If Adobe Reader is not installed on your PC, click here to download and install.

If All Else Fails, Bang the Table

Copyright © 2014 by A.M. Best Company, Inc.  Reprinted with permission. 

The Wisconsin Supreme Court, affirming lower court decisions, has ruled that an asbestos exclusion in a business owners policy that had been issued to the sellers of a building precluded coverage for losses claimed by the buyers of the building. 

The Case 

A company that purchased an apartment building asserted that its contractor cut through

A Pennsylvania appellate court ruled that a commercial umbrella insurance policy covered product-liability-based tort claims.  In doing so, it rejected the trial court’s decision that the underlying lawsuits involved only claims of “faulty workmanship.”

The Case 

Homeowners and other property owners filed multiple out-of-state lawsuits against two companies, alleging that their windows and doors had

A federal district court in Michigan has upheld a magistrate judge’s decision requiring an insurance company to disclose the reserve amount to its insured in a coverage action. 

The Case 

After water damaged an apartment building, the building owner submitted a proof of loss to its insurance company for approximately $5.6 million. The insurer made

A federal district court in California has refused to order an insurance company to comply with a plaintiff’s “overbroad” discovery requests. The court, instead, only ordered the insurer to provide “some statistical discovery.”  

The Case 

An employee who was insured under an employer sponsored plan was fatally injured in a single vehicle accident after he

The plaintiff in this case was employed as a pharmacist by CVS RX Services, Inc. His base weekly salary, which was calculated on a 44 hour work week, exceeded $1,250. CVS guaranteed his base salary and classified him as a salaried employee exempt from the time-and-a-half overtime requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act

Generally, the law in New York is that “a determination fixing a defendant’s fees in a prior action brought by the defendant against the plaintiff for fees for the same legal services which the plaintiff alleges were negligently performed, necessarily determines that there was no legal malpractice.” Breslin Realty Development Corp. v. Shaw, 72 A.D.3d

Work-related email accounts are ubiquitous and often are used by employees for personal reasons. Employees also may use their own personal email accounts on employer provided resources ? with or without the permission of the employer.  Many cases have considered the right of an employer to access an employee’s email accounts from the employee’s work

Court Rules Reservation of Rights Did Not Satisfy Insurer’s Timely Disclaimer Obligation

In 2006, the insurer reserved rights as to the insured’s claim for coverage for an accident, but the insurer did not disclaim until 2009, one year after its insured was sued and the insurer was provided with a copy of the complaint.  The

Keppel Amfels L.L.C., which builds and repairs offshore drilling platforms and marine vessels at the Port of Brownsville, Texas, relies on lease-labor and temporary staffing agencies, including Perma-Temp Personnel Services, Inc., to staff about half of its local work assignments. Although these agencies fill “temporary” positions, some placements last for several years.

Keppel Amfels and

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has affirmed a district court’s decision in favor of an insurance company, ruling that an errors and omissions policy did not cover alleged intentional misconduct and that the insured had “misunderst[ood]” the effect of a provision in the policy’s “Exclusions” section. 

The Case

One insurance agency

A federal district court in Georgia has ruled that a homeowner’s insurance policy excluded coverage for claims that the insured had assaulted his daughter-in-law even if the insured’s voluntary intoxication had affected his intent. 

The Case

A woman sued her father-in-law, alleging that, after they had left a bar, he was intoxicated, placed her in

A federal district court in Florida has rejected an insurance company’s argument for coverage under a reinsurance treaty on the basis of equitable estoppel.

The Case

A contractor entered into a contract with a city in Florida to relocate utilities within the right-of-way along Florida State Road 50. At the completion of the project, the

A federal district court in Michigan has refused to dismiss an insurer’s declaratory judgment action, ruling that an alleged collision between a pedestrian and a vehicle might not have been an “accident” for purposes of the insureds’ no-fault insurance policy if the pedestrian’s intentional acts had led to the collision.

The Case

An insurer sought

A federal district court in Pennsylvania has ruled that an intentional acts exclusion in a homeowner’s insurance policy barred coverage of claims arising from an assault even where the defendant may have lacked the mental capacity to govern his conduct.

The Case

The administrator of the estate of a deceased man sued a couple and