Alan Rutkin’s article entitled, “Cyber Concerns,” has been published in the August 2017 issue of Best’s Review magazine. The article discusses how spyware, installed on computers by retailers, led to lawsuits involving insurance companies.

Click here to read the article.

Best’s Review:  August 2017. Copyrighted A.M. Best Company, Inc. 2017.  All Rights Reserved, Reprinted with Permission.

Claims Administrator Did Not Wrongly Deny Benefits to Ex-Employee, Seventh Circuit Rules

The plaintiff in this case was hired by General Motors as an electrical engineer in 1991. A year later, General Motors circulated a “summary plan description” detailing the disability benefits available to its employees. This document provided that employees who became disabled before accruing

Agreement That Settled Arbitrations Also Barred Former Employee’s ERISA Action, Ninth Circuit Says

In December 2010, the plaintiff in this case, a physician, filed wrongful termination lawsuits against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (Kaiser) and The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. (TPMG). Both of those lawsuits were consolidated in arbitration. The plaintiff, Kaiser, and TPMG settled those arbitrations in

We bring you our Insurance Update for August.

We lead off this month’s issue with a cybercrime case decided by a Michigan federal district court. The case arises out of a spoof email and the issue is whether the loss was directly caused by the use of a computer. A handful of cases involving similar

No Additional Insured Coverage Where Alleged Accident Occurred Off Leased Space

An employee of Linea 3 allegedly was injured in the parking lot while walking from his car to space Linea leased in a building owned by Atlantic Ave. Sixteen AD, Inc. The employee sued Atlantic, which sought additional insured coverage under Linea’s policy. The

Our July Insurance Update features three cases from state high courts.

• The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, on certified question from the First Circuit, addresses whether the duty to defend (or pay defense costs) includes the costs to prosecute the insured’s counterclaims.
• The Texas Supreme Court considers whether the underlying proceeding was sufficiently adversarial when

A federal district court in Illinois has ruled that an insurer was not obligated to defend its insured in an action alleging that he had attacked, assaulted, struck, and stabbed someone, even if the complaint against him asserted that he had been negligent.

The Case

After Connie McElhaney sued Robert Heitbrink, alleging that he had

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has ruled that an insurance policy’s prior acts exclusion precluded coverage for claims against a bankrupt company’s officers relating to alleged fraudulent transfers.

The Case

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Thrift Supervision (“OTS”) began investigating BankUnited FSB in January 2008. By August, news reports were

A federal district court in West Virginia has ruled that an insurance policy did not cover claims that a restaurant had refused to allow a customer to bring his service dog into the restaurant.

The Case

Scott Ullom sued Grand China Buffet & Grill, Inc., and Qi Feng Chen in his capacity as “Director, Incorporator,

A magistrate judge has recommended that a federal district court dismiss a coverage action brought by an insured where a final judgment had determined that the insured had engaged in intentional fraud in his securities transactions.

The Case

Daniel Imperato sued the insurance company that had issued a directors and officers liability insurance policy to