The Complex Insurance Coverage Reporter

Commercial general liability (CGL) policies typically provide that an insurer will defend a “suit” that seeks covered “damages” that the insured may be “legally obligated to pay.” This seems simple enough.

But can an insurer have any obligation to its insured even before a “suit” is filed? Because of judicial interpretation of the policy language, the answer may be less straightforward than it would seem.

Conflicting Case Results

Consider two cases, decided less than a decade apart by federal courts in Massachusetts, which applied the same policy language to ... Continue Reading

ARBITRATION

Rossello v. Zurich American Insurance Company, 2020 Md. LEXIS 174 (Md. Apr. 3, 2020)

Maryland’s highest court adopts pro rata allocation for asbestos-related bodily injury claims under liability policies. The court began by explaining that injury spanning many years often implicates multiple policies and therefore implicates a continuous or injury-in-fact trigger under Maryland law. Adopting the reasoning of Mayor & City Council of Baltimore v. Utica Mutual Insurance Company, 802 A.2d 1070 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 2002), app. dismissed, 821 A.2d 369 (Md ... Continue Reading

To Our Readers:

In just a matter of days, we have seen the coronavirus (COVID-19) take off and dominate nearly every aspect of our lives. Reports of serious personal, economic and other impacts that have now become commonplace were unimaginable to most just a few weeks ago. Please know that our thoughts are with you all in this challenging and uncertain time. A time when business is anything but “as usual.”Continue Reading

Welcome to CICR’s annual review of insurance cases. Here, we spotlight five decisions from the last year that you should know about—and five pending cases to watch.

As our picks for “Cases to Know” indicate, 2019 was not a slow year in the insurance coverage arena. The decade ended with decisions in some closely monitored cases on a variety of issues like the “duty to settle,” employee claims adjuster liability for “bad faith,” and the so-called “unavailability of insurance” exception. You can read about these and other developments below.

Looking forward, five ... Continue Reading