A federal district court in New Jersey has ruled that “no-assignment clauses” in insurance policies precluded a company’s claim that it was insured under the policies as the successor-in-interest to an additional insured.

The Case

On July 22, 2005, Shelby Ownbey, an employee of Advantage Buildings & Exteriors, was seriously injured when he fell approximately

A Pennsylvania federal district court has ruled that a breach of contract lawsuit against an insured was not a covered “occurrence.”

The Case

Norpaco, Inc. sued Tray-Pak Corporation in a state court in Connecticut, alleging that Tray-Pak had sold it defective polyethylene terephthalate (“PET”) trays for Norpaco’s use. The complaint against Tray-Pak alleged breach of

The regulatory landscape on which pharmaceutical and medical device companies tread daily is littered with compliance landmines, none more dangerous than US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) enforcement of the misbranding provisions of the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act (FDCA).  It is not so much the fact of FDA’s enforcement – after all, one can

A policy memo issued on September 9, 2015 from Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates of the Department of Justice (DOJ) outlines a strategy for holding individuals in both civil and criminal enforcement actions accountable for misconduct by corporations and other business entities.  The memo was the product of a working group of senior DOJ

The Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) released supplemental guidance in April 2015 for performing provider system (PPS) lead entities (PPS Leads) on special factors that must be taken into account, in addition to the compliance program requirements of New York Social Services Law Section 363-d and Title 18 of the New York Codes

More than 30 years ago, in 1984, a divided New York Court of Appeals decided in Barker v. Kallash that a person who committed an illegal act of a serious nature should not be able to profit from that wrongdoing.1 By 1997, the court, in Manning v. Brown, seemed to have no doubt about this

Oral Complaints to Employer Alleging FLSA Violations Could Serve as Basis for Retaliation Claim, Court Rules

For more than 15 years, the plaintiff in this case worked as a truck driver for William C. Wernicki Trucking Co., a Connecticut company owned by Ena Wernicki that provides mail-hauling services pursuant to several contracts with the U.S.

Alan Rutkin, a partner in the Firm’s Insurance Coverage & Litigation Practice Group, has published an article entitled, “Protection Against Fraud Must Be Specific,” in the September 2015 issue of Best’s Review.

Click here to read the article.

With his February 3, 2015, announcement that four national retail chains were selling herbal supplements without any herbs in them, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman opened the door on an unprecedented wave of negative publicity for the dietary supplement industry. In the days following the disclosure of the AG’s investigation into this alleged fraud,

Signed into law by President Clinton on October 25, 1994 after being adopted by unanimous consent by a Congress that received in excess of 2.5 million letters urging its passage, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) expressly provides that dietary supplements and the ingredients therein that were on the market as

The California Supreme Court has ruled that an insurance company may seek reimbursement of overbilled amounts directly from Cumis counsel.

Background

In California, if any claims in a complaint against an insured under a commercial general liability (“CGL”) insurance policy are potentially covered by the policy, the insurer must provide its insured with a defense to all

The California Supreme Court has overruled its 2003 decision in Henkel Corp. v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. and ruled that a state law tracing back to 1872 had changed its determination regarding the enforceability of “consent to assignment” clauses in insurance policies.

Background

Henkel concerned an insured’s assignment of rights under a liability policy. The

The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that, absent an assignment of rights from the insured, plaintiffs could not assert a bad faith claim against insurers that provided homeowners’ insurance coverage to the insured.

The Case

John and Pamela Ross alleged that their residence was damaged by the migration of home heating oil from a

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has ruled that a claim had been made against the insured under a commercial general liability (“CGL”) insurance policy before the policy’s effective date.

The Case

No later than early 2008, Burlington Graphics Systems reported to Ritrama, Inc., that recreational vehicle (“RV”) owners were experiencing issues with

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has ruled that an excess liability insurer had no duty to initiate settlement negotiations with a third party claimant.

Background

Under Oklahoma law, a primary insurer owes its insured a duty to initiate settlement negotiations with a third party claimant if the insured’s liability to the