The United Kingdom Supreme Court (UKSC) handed down its judgment on 15 January 2021 in The Financial Conduct Authority v. Arch Insurance (UK) Limited and Others. This test case was brought by the FCA on behalf of SME business interruption (BI) policyholders who have suffered financial losses as a result of COVID-19. The High Court judgment was handed down on 15 September 2020, with the special direct appeal to the UKSC taking place on…
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a wave of business interruption lawsuits, particularly between policyholders and their insurance companies. Initially, the nationwide trend was in favor of insurance companies, but recent decisions confirm that policyholders are gaining traction.
Policyholder arguments gather steam in court
One of the pioneer lawsuits, for example, recently survived a summary judgment motion. In Cajun Conti LLC v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London, No. 2020-02558 (La. Civ. Dist. Ct., Orleans Parish,…
Directors’ and officers’ liability (D&O) insurance protects the personal assets of corporate directors and officers in the event of a lawsuit or other “claim” made against them for, among other things, an alleged breach of their duties in managing the organization. D&O insurance directly covers individual directors and officers for their defense costs, judgments against them, and settlements when they cannot be indemnified by the company, and also covers the company to the extent it…
This is the first of two posts discussing several major aspects of directors’ and officers’ liability (“D&O”) insurance coverage. Companies approaching a policy renewal deadline, looking to place D&O insurance for the first time, considering increasing the size or structure of an existing D&O insurance program, or otherwise evaluating their overall risk management strategy may find it useful to review some basic features of D&O insurance and potential enhancements.
Why is D&O insurance important?
D&O insurance…
A concert promoter cancels a sold-out show of a world-renowned recording artist, reimbursing millions of dollars in ticket sales as a result. If the reason for the cancellation was COVID-19, does insurance cover that?
Event Cancellation Insurance Basics
Event cancellation insurance generally provides coverage only when there has been a triggering event under the policy. Some policies are written, for example, to only cover cancellations caused by rain or bad weather. Other event cancellation policies…
Reed Smith Insurance Recovery partners John Shugrue, John Ellison, Amber Finch, Richard Lewis, and Matthew Weaver offer discussion and analysis on key issues relevant to businesses seeking, or evaluating whether to seek, coverage for COVID-19 losses. This webinar is available on demand and you can register here.
Here’s a brief summary of the topics addressed in the webinar:
Business interruption coverage and the physical loss/damage trigger (presented by Richard Lewis)
Business interruption insurance provides coverage…
Faced with mounting claims for insurance coverage as a result of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, commercial insurers are likely to search for any policy provision that they think will enable them to avoid paying virus-related claims. One provision that insurers ultimately may invoke in an attempt to deny such claims is the so-called “pollution exclusion” – an exclusion that can be found in both commercial general liability (CGL) insurance policies and property insurance policies. …
Experian Data Breach Resolution (Experian) has identified its “top data breach trends of 2020,” and the cannabis industry should take note. In its “Data Breach Industry Forecast 2020,” Experian predicts that “we will see many burgeoning industries, such as cannabis retailers, cryptocurrency entities, and even some environmental organizations targeted for cyberattacks as a result of online activism or ‘hacktivism.’”
In recognition of this risk, cannabis retailers as well as other cannabis-related businesses should – in…
Reviewing philosopher Mark Rowlands’ 2012 work Can Animals Be Moral?, Jessica Pierce wrote in the Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, “The question, ‘Can animals be moral?’ has suffered the worst kind of philosophical denial: an almost complete lack of interest by ‘serious’ philosophers.”
No longer. In an effort to apply “general canon[s] of contract interpretation,” the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania – in a recent insurance-coverage opinion of all places – implicitly…
It has long been acknowledged that typical Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) policies exclude coverage for “wage and hour” claims.[1][2] However, a recent California Court of Appeal decision, Southern California Pizza Co., LLC v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London Subscribing to Policy Number 11EPL-20208,[3] narrows the definition of what is a wage and hour claim, and improves the possibility of obtaining coverage for broad-brush wage and hour claims that tack on…