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Complex insurance coverage disputes where policyholders fight for coverage of underlying claims, e.g., catastrophic losses from hurricanes, wildfires, floods, climate change effects.

Charlie Kingdollar on Emerging Issues Facing the Property & Casualty Insurance Industry

March 17th, 2021|Categories: Complex Business Litigation, HB Tort Notes, Insurance, News|Tags: , , , , |

Emerging Issues Facing the Property & Casualty Insurance Industry: What Has, What Is, What Will Be Charlie Kingdollar was Emerging Issues Officer for GenRe where he worked for 40 years, much of which was spent monitoring hundreds of new risks at any given time. In this article, Charlie discusses risks that have long-since emerged but continue today, risks that are starting to reveal themselves, and risks just starting to appear on the horizon. Read or download his article published in the latest issue of the Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation.

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Chubb’s COVID-19 Claim Denials Draw Litigation from Hollywood

December 7th, 2020|Categories: Complex Business Litigation, HB Risk Notes, HB Tort Notes, Insurance, News|Tags: , , , , |

Editor and Managing Director HB Litigation Conferences Editor@LitigationConferences.com Chubb’s COVID-19 Claim Denials Draw Litigation from Hollywood Well-known policyholder and insurance recovery attorney Kirk Pasich and his firm have sued Chubb insurance companies on behalf of policyholders in the entertainment industry to recover millions in losses they suffered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Entertainment Business Interruption On Nov. 11, 2020, the firm filed suit on behalf of United Talent Agency LLC in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Vigilant Insurance Co. and Federal Insurance Co. UTA seeks coverage for the millions it lost when concerts and television and movie projections had to be cancelled. The complaint says both carriers are part of the Chubb group, “which has adopted a universal practice of denying coverage for all business interruption claims associated with SARS-CoV-2, Covid-19, and subsequent events” (UTA v. Vigilant, No. 20STCV43745, Calif. Super. Ct., Los Angeles). Acts affected include Post Malone, Guns N' Roses, and Toby Keith. The case hinges in part on the carriers’ assertion that there was no “physical loss or damage.” UTA finds Vigilant based its finding on little information, and knowing for decades that "many courts have held that the presence of a hazardous substance on a property, including the airspace inside buildings, constitutes property damage and that there may be ‘direct [...]

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Assessing Risk in Medical Malpractice Mediation

December 5th, 2020|Categories: Complex Business Litigation, Insurance, Torts-On-Demand-CLE|Tags: , , , , , , |

HB Litigation Conferences presents Assessing Risk in Medical Malpractice Mediation CLE-eligible on demand webinar | Recorded 2021 Lawyers and claims professionals assess litigation outcomes all the time. The parties do not. You can help. Understandably, parties in medical malpractice disputes do not fully appreciate the risks inherent in litigation and are not aware of how continued litigation affects their underlying interests in the dispute. For example, some parties see the outcome as a reflection of their personal character. These challenges can hamper the parties' ability to make good decisions in litigated medical malpractice cases. Even organizations that are experienced in assessing litigation risk can make more decisions in these cases with adverse outcomes. Hear our panel of medical malpractice and insurance attorneys and litigation experts as they share their insights on successfully guiding individuals and organizations through these disputes. Registration Includes Nearly 90 minutes of insights from experienced professionals. CLE credit: 1+ (subject to bar rules). For CLE questions: CLE@LitigationConference.com The complete Power Point presentation. Continued access to the complete recording for later use. Answers to your questions via email to the presenters or write to HB and we will be sure to contact the speakers. REGISTRATION Key Points What are the intangible costs of medical malpractice litigation for individuals and [...]

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Podcast: Charlie Kingdollar on Social Disparagement

October 15th, 2020|Categories: Business Litigation, HB Risk Notes, Insurance, News|Tags: , , , , |

HBLC · HBPC Charlie Kingdollar Social Disparagement - 10:8:20, 7.57 PM Charlie Kingdollar spent more than four decades with General Reinsurance, three-quarters of which as the company's Emerging Issues Officer. One colleague described him as "one of the most prescient and gifted industry futurists I have met in my 36 year professional career within the insurance industry. Entertaining and insightful, his ability to digest and communicate complex issues, many before they are readily apparent, is both a gift and a talent." Follow him on LinkedIn. Charlie Kingdollar on Social Media Disparagement Are the risks posed by social media -- which has added jet fuel to one person's ability to smear another -- adequately addressed by the insurance market? It was my pleasure to interview Charlie for our first emerging issues podcast. It's based on his article on social disparagement which will be featured in the inaugural issue of the Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation (JEIL), which will release in January 2021. JEIL is a collaborative project between HB and the Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media, Docket Alarm and, most recently, Judicata. If you have comments or wish to participate in one our projects, or want to tell me how awesome Charlie is, drop me a note at [...]

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Setting the record straight on cyber insurance claim denials and the ‘war exclusion’

July 22nd, 2019|Categories: HB Risk Notes, Insurance, Technology Law|Tags: , , , , |

Is insurance coverage for cyber claims barred by a war exclusion?  Judy Selby and Peter McLaughlin asked this question in a recent post for IAPP. Two corporate giants, Mondelez International and Merck, made the headlines recently as they sustained serious damage as a result of a NotPetya infection, an encrypting ransomware. They have each filed declaratory judgments after their carriers denied their claims. Reports of these insurance disputes have led to concerns that cyber incidents involving state actors would not be covered by cyber policies with war exclusions. The Verizon 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report attributes 23% of breaches  to nation-states or state-affiliated players. "These state-sponsored attacks typically range from theft or espionage to financial gain; however, some attacks appear to have been driven by grudge or by swatting a neighbor," Selby and McLaughlin write. "[P]erhaps we are viewing this through an old lens. Insurance has often been purchased to address hazards. Specifically, an organization obtains a policy to counter the slim risk of a fire, flood or other catastrophe. Fred Kaplan wrote an article for Slate in April in which he argues the inevitability of attacks – state-sponsored or otherwise – means that we should view cyber insurance more like we do health insurance: coverage against the inevitable, rather than against a hazard risk." Read on for what else Selby [...]

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Cyber Captive Survey 2019 — AON

June 26th, 2019|Categories: HB Risk Notes, Insurance, Technology Law|Tags: , , , , |

Aon’s Cyber Captive Survey 2019 says that the rapid growth in the captive market of cyber-specific policies underscores that cyber is one of the primary risks for organizations across the world driven by an increasingly complex operational, technological and regulatory environment. Key findings include: Healthcare and energy industries are leading the way, with 19% and 15% of organizations in these industries utilizing captives for cyber coverage respectively. 41% of captives surveyed are incubating cyber risk. The range in limits of cover taken out is up to USD$100 million. An estimated 34% of all captives will be writing cyber in five years’ time. Read the complete report here! 

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Wells Fargo Proposes to Settle Auto Insurance Case for $386M — Yahoo!

June 26th, 2019|Categories: Class Actions, HB Risk Notes, Insurance|Tags: , , , , |

In 2017 customers of Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) filed a class action lawsuit alleging the bank forced unwanted auto insurance without permission from the customers. Currently WFC plans to pay around $386 million to settle the 2017 class action lawsuit. The high payout is due to the sheer number of customers affected. About 270,000 WFC customers were "pushed into delinquency " and "almost 25,000 wrongful vehicle repossessions." In addition to the class action settlement, WFC will be reaching out to individual customers offering financial service recovery, and restructuring their leadership teams. WFC is still seeing a decrease in sales and their numbers. In six months WFC shares "lost 4.5% against 6.5% growth recorded by the industry." Read the complete post on Yahoo! here.

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Moving Your Corporate Data to the Cloud: Top 13 Things to Think About as you Review Your Hosting Agreement — Judy Selby Consulting

May 6th, 2019|Categories: HB Risk Notes, Insurance, Technology Law|Tags: , , , , |

Some data migration risks can be mitigated at the cloud contract stage, Allison Bird, Judy Selby’s partner at Clearview Privacy Consulting LLC, explains. Regarding indemnification, Bird says, "If data is lost or exposed by the hosting company, your company as well as any affiliates who use the services will be subject to suits from clients and individuals whose data was impacted.  You may also be subject to regulatory scrutiny which could result in legal costs and regulatory penalties.  To the extent possible, negotiate a full indemnification of third party claims arising out of the hosting services." She says the limitation of liability section of your hosting agreement "may be the single most important" part.  "Your hosting company may make a lot of promises in the agreement.  However, if their liability under the agreement is significantly capped, you won’t receive the monetary compensation necessary to make up for hosting company’s acts and omissions that damage the company. Negotiations for a higher cap will translate into real dollars in the event of a security incident." Of course, insurance is always a good solution if done right. "You can negotiate the perfect contract but unless your hosting company has a deep pocket, it may not have sufficient capital to make good on contractual obligations in the event of a breach or data loss situation, especially [...]

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The Cloud: Selected Benefits, Risks, and Insurance Coverage Issues (Part 1) — Barnes & Thornburg

May 6th, 2019|Categories: HB Risk Notes, Insurance, Technology Law|Tags: , , , , |

Cloud Risk: Do You Transfer Liability Along with Data? Many of us were using data clouds before we even knew what they were. Now, while most of us are comfortable with the concept, we may not be comfortable knowing who is liable when data is lost, damaged or breached. It's not a given that your cloud provider absorbs any liabilities, and it's not a given they can even afford the liability should it arise. Below are quotes from an article by Scott Godes, Kara Cleary, and Heidi Fessler of Barnes & Thornburg LLP on the subject, and a link to their complete article.  Godes, Cleary, and Fessler list several cloud-related risks: data breaches, data loss, interruption of access, compromised credentials and broken authentication, and denial of service.  But two other categories for concern are:  #1. BYOC, or Bring Your Own Cloud. Employees may be innocently using productivity applications that store work data on non-company clouds, in effect, "bringing their own clouds" to the workplace. #2. Multi-Tenancy. This involves risks posed when unrelated cloud users are sharing the same computing resources.  "Both the cloud provider and the user must be aware of system and data security to prevent a breach in the security. In addition, when a risk is realized, it may not always be clear who is at fault for the [...]

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Stigma and Shame Hampered AIDS Treatment in the 80s, and Opioid Treatment Today

January 2nd, 2019|Categories: Class Actions, HB Risk Notes, HB Tort Notes, Insurance|Tags: , , , , |

By Tom Hagy I worked in the press office of the New Jersey Department of Health in the 1980s. Aside from hazardous waste, asbestos, cancer, a chemical fire or two, the annual influenza "crisis" and the occasional salmonella outbreak, AIDS was one of the most urgent, frightening and misunderstood health issues of the day. The U.S. epidemic began with one reported case in 1981, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and grew to an astounding 36.9 million people living with HIV/AIDS in 2017 as reported by the World Health Organization. The office I worked in was tasked with providing information to the public and members of the press. At the time many public health professionals believed -- as is the case with many diseases -- that education on how to prevent transmission of the HIV virus would all but eliminate its spread. All we had to do was educate the public and, most importantly, the high-risk groups. Education is a common weapon in fighting disease.  It's why we wash our hands, cough into our elbows and try not to put salt on absolutely everything we put in our mouths. In the early 1980s the "problem" was that the high-risk groups were having homosexual sex and injecting drugs -- not typical themes addressed by politicians. Early on more conservative policymakers didn't [...]

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Aon SVP Belfiore on Corporate Cyber Risk

November 1st, 2018|Categories: HB Risk Notes, Insurance, Technology Law|Tags: , , , , |

Cyber Risk of Paramount Concern to Corporate Boards Lack of History Remains a Challenge "Cyber security is the most polarizing issue on the corporate board agenda these days," says Anthony Belfiore, SVP and Chief Information Security Officer at Aon. "It has the most potential impact and the most regulatory pressure among all risks companies face. Nothing is more top of mind right now." "You just have to look at the amount of media coverage and the actual realized impacts companies are experiencing. Hundreds of thousands of businesses from big to small are being affected. The entire healthcare system in the UK went down. The impact is tangible. It’s affecting day-to-day operations," he says. “And no one is immune. Board members come from a diverse set of industries, and all are impacted." Why is cyber risk such a hot button for companies versus other types of risks? "The risk has become more urgent as it has shifted to actual business interruption," Belfiore says. "Historically companies were concerned with data leakage and loss, or regulatory fines, but now the actual operation itself can come to a halt. When a company goes down for three days that hits the media. Analysts notice. You can trace a specific event to a drop in stock values." Aren't fines still a concern?   "Yes. We are operating in [...]

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Foggan & Huggins on Opioid Litigation Defense Coverage

October 31st, 2018|Categories: HB Risk Notes, Insurance, Mass Torts|Tags: , , , , |

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, [...]

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