Emerging Litigation Podcast
Covid Insurance Coverage Decisions with Guest Marshall Gilinsky. Are Policyholders Catching Up?
According to the online Covid Coverage Litigation Tracker (CCLT) run by Penn Law there have been more than 2,300 insurance coverage cases filed over denial of claims relating to Covid-19. Restaurants and bars were hardest hit by the pandemic and so led the way in seeking – and being denied – coverage, too. They are also leading the way in suing their insurers. The top five insurers in the defense position are Chubb Limited at #5, then #4 Lloyds of London, #3 Cincinnati Financial, and #2 Zurich. And in the #1 position facing the most coverage suits is Hartford. The insurance industry started off strong when this litigation began, winning the vast majority of the coverage suits. And they continue to do well, scoring with the argument that many of the claims do not involve actual property damage. Government closures don’t cause property damage, they argue. Courts have largely been siding with the carriers – but not all. Policyholders, a tenacious bunch, appear to be chipping away at the body of law in this suddenly expanding category. A recent case involving a New Orleans restaurant against Lloyd’s was penciled into the win column for carriers by a trial court , but an appeals court erased it and wrote the policyholder a narrow 3-2 victory. The appeals court said the language of the policy was ambiguous, and therefore had to be construed in favor of the restaurant. What's it mean? Does this bode well for policyholders? Or can we expect to see, as we did in previous coverage wars, a mixed bag of decisions across the nation? For more on that case and today’s Covid coverage landscape, listen to my interview with Marshall Gilinsky, a shareholder in the New York office of Anderson Kill. Marshall has represented policyholders of various policy types for two decades, including those seeking coverage [...]
The Role of Litigation and Regulation in Making the Web More Accessible with Guests Ken Nakata and Hiram Kuykendall
According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness there are 43 million people around the world living with blindness, and 300 million living with moderate to severe visual impairment. Put those statistics next to these: There are nearly 2 billion websites, and 550,000 created every day. Shouldn’t sight-impaired people have the same access to these sites as sighted people? Of course they should. There is good news. After previously announcing guidance, the DOJ says new regulations are on the way under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which describes the obligations for state and local governments. My guests say there are many reasons to be excited about this. My guests say there are many reasons to be excited about this. Ken Nakata is Co-Founder and Principal at Converge Accessibility, whose solutions help make sure websites and other technologies are accessible to people with disabilities. Ken is former Senior Trial Attorney with the DOJ Disability Rights Section where he developed nationwide ADA policies for the internet. Joining Ken is Hiram Kuykendall, Chief Technology Officer at Microassist, an Austin-based learning and development consulting. Hiram is a technical leader with hands-on experience in instructional design and digital accessibility. This podcast is the audio companion to the Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation. The Journal is a collaborative project between HB Litigation Conferences and the Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media, and Docket Alarm. The podcast itself is a joint effort between HB and our friends at Law Street Media. If you have comments or wish to participate in one our projects please drop me a note at Editor@LitigationConferences.com. (actual size) Tom Hagy Host Emerging Litigation Podcast P.S. Anytime I make a self-effacing remark about my ignorance concerning this or any subject, it's strictly for entertainment value, a story I will cling to with every fiber of my being. Ken Nakata is Co-Founder and [...]
Litigation’s Role in Gun Safety Advocacy with Adam Skaggs
We’re closing in on 400 million guns in America, weapons that have been used to kill 1.5 million Americans between 1968 and 2017. Can litigation be an effective tool in curbing this loss of life? In 2020 alone there were more than 45,000 gun deaths. The beyond tragic and senseless mass shootings at schools has become all too routine. Most Americans want stricter gun laws which they believe will reduce the senseless killing in our country, which leads the world in both the number of privately owned firearms and gun-related deaths. The Supreme Court, of course, didn't take public opinion into account when it struck down a more than century old New York City ban on concealed firearms. Politicians do, however, pay close attention to polls. At the federal level, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan law designed to make Americans safer in our gun-toting nation. Hailed as a "great start" and a rare but welcome exercise in reaching across the aisle, the law will result in safer citizens, but didn't include much of what gun advocates say is really needed to effect meaningful change. In California, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new law that gives citizens incentives to pursue gun manufacturers and dealers who sell illegal firearms. In New York, Democratic leaders, undaunted by the Supreme Court, have pushed through new gun restrictions at vulnerable locations like schools, malls, and stadiums. But what can lawyers and lawsuits do about it? Plenty. What reasonable measurers can be put into place that will not infringe on Second Amendment rights? Several. Are we seeing litigation over these issues? You bet. For more specifics, listen to my interview with Adam Skaggs, chief counsel and policy director at leading gun safety advocacy group Giffords Law Center, co-founded by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Prior to Giffords Law Center Adam was senior counsel at Everytown for [...]
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Emerging Litigation Journal
The Environmental, Social, and Governance Police Have Arrived: Is Your Insurance Ready? by Robert D. Chesler and Dennis J. Artese
The Authors Robert D. Chesler (rchesler@andersonkill.com) is a shareholder in Anderson Kill’s New Jersey office and is a member of the firm’s Cyber Insurance Recovery Group. He represents policyholders in a broad variety of coverage claims against their insurers and advises companies with respect to their insurance programs. Dennis J. Artese is a shareholder in Anderson Kill’s New York office and chairs the firm’s Climate Change and Disaster Recovery Group. Both are members of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal. Interviews with leading attorneys and other subject matter experts on new twists in the law and how the law is responding to new twists in the world. The ESG Police Have Arrived: Is Your Insurance Ready? "ESG has become a major initiative for corporate America. In particular, the environmental prong of ESG calls for companies to institute sustainability goals and to invest in environmentally friendly companies. This emphasis has both economic and popular support. Environmental sustainability will make companies better able to compete and make their businesses less risky." Abstract: The environmental, social, and governance movement is a positive one, but like many well-intentioned efforts there is room for abuse and risk. As corporations endeavor to earn accolades and good will for “doing the right thing,” they must also be certain they truly are. In this article the authors discuss increased government scrutiny, the attendant risks of implementing and reporting on ESG initiatives, insurance coverage implications for directors and officers, the pollution and other exclusions, the potential civil fines and penalties, and what companies can expect in the era of ESG. Download the article now! Podcast 1 of 2 series: Insurance Coverage with Dr. Jaana Pietari and Jim Fenstermacher and Litigation with Bob Chesler. Podcast 2 of 2 series: PFAS Insurance Coverage with Robert D. Chesler of Anderson Kill. Sister [...]
Announcing the Complex Litigation Ethics Conference
A leading academic and practitioner, Joshua P. Davis (davisj@usfca.edu) is a nationally recognized expert on legal ethics and class actions, as well as on artificial intelligence in the law, antitrust, civil procedure, free speech, and jurisprudence. He has published more than 30 scholarly articles and book chapters on these subjects and is currently writing a book on AI titled Unnatural Law, which will be published by Cambridge University Press. He is Research Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of Law, and a Shareholder of the Berger Montague PC law firm and Manager of its new San Francisco Bay Area Office. Before taking these posts, for more than 20 years Davis was a tenured Professor of Law at University of San Francisco Law School, where he also served as the Director of the Center for Law and Ethics. Davis is also a member of the Editorial Board of Advisors for the Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation, published by Fastcase Full Court Press. Tom Hagy, Editor in Chief. An expert in civil procedure and federal courts, Professor Scott Dodson is the James Edgar Hervey Chair in Litigation and Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law at UC Hastings Law. He has published seven book titles, including The Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Cambridge 2015) and New Pleading in the Twenty-First Century (Oxford 2013). He has written around 100 shorter works appearing in such journals as Stanford Law Review, New York University Law Review, Michigan Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, California Law Review, Virginia Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Northwestern University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, American Journal of Comparative Law, American Journal of International Law, and Law & Society Review. His scholarly writings have been cited in more than 30 court opinions and have been downloaded more than 45,000 times. For 2010-14, he was listed as the 9th [...]
Litigating a Claim to Recover Liquidated Damages by Laura Fraher
The Author Laura C. Fraher (fraher@slslaw.com) is a senior attorney in the trial and construction group at Shapiro, Lifschitz & Schram in Washington, D.C. She has extensive experience in civil litigation at both the trial court and appellate level. Competitive by nature, Laura played rugby for nearly 20 years. She puts this competitive spirit to work through her passion for the law and her clients. Education: St. John’s University School of Law, J.D., 2001, magna cum laude; SUNY College at Geneseo, B.A., Political Science, 1998. Interviews with leading attorneys and other subject matter experts on new twists in the law and how the law is responding to new twists in the world. Litigating a Claim to Recover Liquidated Damages: Enforceability Depends on Evidence of Good Faith Expectations "The tests and standards that courts apply to evaluate whether a particular liquidated damage provision is enforceable vary from state to state and it is imperative that litigants research and fully appreciate the particular standards that will be applied by the court in which they are litigating." Abstract: The liquidated damages provision in a contract is a useful mechanism for mitigating risk in the event one of the parties to an agreement breaches the contract, costing the aggrieved party sometimes significant difficulty and substantial expense. Unfortunately, these provisions are often challenged, allowing the party responsible for the beach to exacerbate the burdens on the other party. In this article, the author discusses concepts of enforceability, proof, and avoiding litigation over liquidated damage provisions. A liquidated damage provision is an advance agreement of the damages that a party will be entitled to recover in the event of a future breach by the other party to a contract. These provisions can be an important tool for risk allocation and mitigation between parties when entering into [...]
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