Insurance Update

Our January Insurance Update is packed with cases.

We begin with state high court decisions addressing: (1) water and weather exclusions; (2) the validity of consent-to-settle provisions; and (3) whether an insurer breaches its duty to its insured by settling for policy limits without obtaining a liability release for the insured.

We then move on to the federal circuit courts, where they address a professional services exclusion and coverage for a phishing scheme.

Last month, we discussed the Illinois Supreme Court’s Sanders decision, which found that for purposes of insurance coverage, malicious prosecution occurred at the time of prosecution, not exoneration.  This month, the Missouri Court of Appeals finds exoneration to be the trigger, but under a different type of policy.  We also discuss an Illinois appellate court decision that addresses reimbursement of defense costs.

We close out the update with two trial court rulings each involving pollution exclusions.  One case addresses whether the exclusion applies to the cleanup of black powder that a tenant left behind.  The other implicates North Carolina’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices statute.

We also look back at 2019 by providing a compilation of all the cases that appeared in our update over the past year, organized by topic.

We hope that you find the compilation useful and our update informative.

Rob Tugander and Greg Mann