Is a drug company that's sued in connection with the manufacture, promotion and distribution of opioids covered by its insurer for defense costs? According to Laura A. Foggan and Michael Lee Huggins of Crowell & Moring, LLP, that determination will come down to whether, in the relevant state, an accident takes place when either the act or the injury was unintentional, or whether an accident occurred if only the act was unintentional. This definition will vary by state, Foggan and Huggins wrote in California Litigation, published by the Litigation Section of the California Bar earlier this year. South Carolina may permit coverage if "either the act or the injury was unintentional," they explained. In Liberty Mutual v. J.M. Smith, the Fourth Circuit held that if a drug company failed to identify and alert regulatory agencies of suspicious drug orders, then there may be a duty to defend. But in California, the Crowell & Moring attorneys wrote, with that state's definition of "accident" a state appellate court in Travelers v. Actavis held that a "deliberate act is not an accident, even if the injury is unintentional, unless the injury was produced by an additional, unexpected, independent, and unforeseen happening." In that case drug company Actavis allegedly engaged in deceptive marketing in order to sell more opioids and reap more profits. According to Foggan and Huggins, the [...]

With the amount of trickery going into thefts and embezzlements these days, crime insurance companies too often use the many steps involved in a fraudulent scheme to argue that losses are indirect and otherwise uncovered. The recent decisions of the Second Circuit and Sixth Circuit on the “direct loss” argument and the scope of computer fraud coverage are important victories for policyholders generally, making clear that where the predominant step in the chain is some type of covered fraudulent misconduct involving a computer, a court is not going to entertain a direct loss defense to excuse the insurance company from paying. As such, policyholders should be familiar with their crime coverage and promptly notify all potentially implicated lines of insurance coverage when a cybercriminal is afoot. -- Joshua Gold, Anderson Kill  Read Josh's complete article.    Joshua Gold is Chair of Anderson Kill’s Cyber Insurance Recovery Practice and was amicus counsel for United Policyholders in the Medidata Solutions, Inc. v. Federal Insurance Company case before the Second Circuit.