Specialty Lines

Expert Analysis

• Insurers Should Prepare For 'Black Swan' Climate Disasters

  

  As rapid climate change results in increased risk of casualties and property loss from rare, severe weather events, the insurance industry should take five crucial steps toward evolving and continuing operations, including advanced analytic techniques and investments in alternative energy sources, say Stephen Brown and Irena Maier at Wilson Elser.

• 3 Quirks Of New Jersey Insurance Coverage Law

  

  There are a multitude of state-specific requirements and nuances that make New Jersey insurance law unique, including in the areas of duty to defend, reservation of rights and bad faith, say attorneys at Goldberg Segalla.

• How Del. 'Arising Out Of' Ruling May Affect Insurance Cases

  

  The Delaware Supreme Court decision in Ace American Insurance v. Guaranteed Rate focused on a professional services exclusion, but the ruling has wide-ranging application in insurance coverage disputes involving any exclusions that employ "arising out of" or similar prefatory language, say Keith McKenna and Maria Brinkmann at Cohen Ziffer.

• Assessing D&O Coverage Amid Challenges To DEI Policies

  

  As the recent backlash against corporate diversity, equity and inclusion policies leads to shareholder litigation and other legal challenges, companies bolstering their DEI efforts should ensure that their directors and officers and employment practices' liability insurance policies provide sufficient coverage for potential claims, say Peter Gillon and Patrick Blood at Pillsbury.

• Potential Relief For Nevada Insureds Is On The Horizon

  

  A proposed regulation recently issued by the Nevada Division of Insurance would severely restrict the state's new law prohibiting burning-limits policies, enacting welcome changes to address businesses' concerns that the law will make it harder to obtain cost-effective liability insurance, says Sheri Thome at Wilson Elser.

• How Reps And Warranties Insurance Can Aid Sellers In M&A

  

  Amid the current slowdown in the M&A climate, representation and warranty insurance offers sellers a number of advantages, including protection against fraud and possible leverage to insist on a no-seller-indemnity deal, say Alex Leibowitz and Eric Jesse at Lowenstein Sandler.

• 1st Circ. Harvard Ruling Provides Primer On Policy Provisions

  

  In its recent finding of no coverage for Harvard due to the school's failure to give Zurich American Insurance timely notice of its claim, the First Circuit provides a good analysis of the distinctions between occurrence and claims-made policies, including the rationale for differences in notice provisions, says Andrew Paliotta at Cozen O'Connor.

• Nev. Insurance Law May Mean Turmoil In Liability Market

  

  Nevada's new law prohibiting insurers from issuing or renewing defense-within-limits liability policies in the state could cause professional liability insurers to withdraw certain products or prohibitively increase premiums — and while an emergency regulation allows for exceptions, the situation remains fluid, says Joshua Leach at Atheria Law.

• SEC's New Rules Likely Will Affect Cyber, D&O Insurance

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently adopted cybersecurity incident disclosure rules that could create new challenges that affect how public companies assess the risk of securities, corporate governance and cyber-related lawsuits, which may implicate novel insurance coverage issues, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

• Potential Marijuana Status Change Would Shift Industry Risks

  

  Cannabis companies and their insurers should pay close attention to how the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' move toward marijuana reclassification plays out, and the potential for a shakeup in the landscape for cannabis regulation at the state and federal levels, says Ian Stewart at Wilson Elser.

• Key Provisions In Florida's New Insurer Accountability Act

  

  Florida's recent bipartisan Insurer Accountability Act introduces a range of new obligations for insurance companies and regulatory bodies to strengthen consumer protection, and other states may follow suit should it prove successful at ensuring a reliable insurance market, say Jan Larson and Benjamin Malings at Jenner & Block.

• 10th Circ. Remand Of ERISA Claims To Insurer Is Problematic

  

  The Tenth Circuit recently gave the defendant another bite at the apple in David P. v. United Healthcare by remanding Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims for reprocessing, but the statute lacks any provision authorizing remands of ERISA cases, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.

• Insurers, Prepare For Large Exposures From PFAS Claims

  

  With thousands of lawsuits concerning per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances pending across the country, several large settlements already reached, and both regulators and the plaintiffs bar increasingly focusing on PFAS, it is becoming clear that these "forever chemicals" present major exposures to insurers and their policyholders, say Scott Seaman and Jennifer Arnold at Hinshaw.