Insurance Update

Some important insurance decisions were handed down over the past month.

We begin in Ohio, where public nuisance claims by state and local governments over opioids and lead paint were on full display.  In Acuity, the Ohio Supreme Court found that the opioid suits were not brought “because of bodily injury.”  A week earlier, the Ohio Court of Appeals in Sherwin-Williams ruled that the lead paint suits sought “damages” and that those damages were “because of” bodily injury and property damage.  But the viability of this ruling is in doubt given the Ohio Supreme Court’s Acuity decision.

Two state supreme courts – South Carolina and Washington – joined the chorus of opinions finding no coverage for pandemic-based business interruption losses.  And sticking with Washington, that state’s supreme court also placed some limitations on certain claims-made and reported policies.

Moving on to the cyber arena, a California federal court offers its two cents on whether the theft of cryptocurrency from a hacked Coinbase account qualifies as a “direct physical loss.”  And a Minnesota federal judge considers whether a policyholder can shift a social engineering fraud loss into the policy’s computer fraud coverage.

We hope you find these cases informative.

Rob Tugander and Greg Mann