CaseWatch Insurance – A Bi-Weekly Update of Insurance Law Decisions and Legislation

CaseWatch: Insurance provides timely summaries of and access to insurance law decisions and legislation. It is distributed bi-weekly via e-mail. For ease of reference, cases are organized by topic. Jurisdictional information and links to full text decisions are found in individual case titles. CaseWatch is the collaborative effort of Goldberg Segalla’s Global Insurance Services Practice Group. Your interest is appreciated and feedback welcome. Please share this publication with your colleagues. If others in your organization are interested in receiving CaseWatch, please contact Sarah J. Delaney.

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Download of Personal Information Violates Right of Privacy within Meaning of “Personal and Advertising Injury”

Netscape Communications Corporation v. Federal Insurance Company

(9th Cir. (Ca.) August 27, 2009)

 

Claims were made against AOL alleging that it had intercepted and disemminated private online communications.  The Ninth Circuit concluded the allegations constituted "violatation of a person's right of privacy" within the meaning of "personal and advertising injury."

 

The policy did contain an exclusion for "providing internet access to 3rd parties."  The Court held that the exclusion had to be construed narrowly, and applied only to the supplying literal connection between the

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Reinsurance Review Cases for September Edition

Download Wellpoint, Inc. v. John Hancock Life Insurance et al

Download Callon Petroleum v. National Indemnity Co. et al

Download National Council of Compensation Insurance, Inc. v. AIG et al

Download James Willingham v. Omaha Woodmen Life Insurance Society

Download Mid-Continent Casualty v. General Reinsurance Co.

Download TIG Insurance v. Global International Reinsurance Co.

Download General Electric Company v. Lines

Download Arch Reinsurance et al v Huntsman Corp et al

If you have any questions or comments, kindly contact Jeffrey Kingsley at [email protected]

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CaseWatch Cases for August 31, 2009 Edition

Download Allstate Insurance Company v. Miller

Download Alta Bates Summit Medical Center v. United of Omaha Life Ins. Co.

Download American National v. York County

Download American Safety Indem. Co. v. 612 Realty, LLC

Download America's Recommended Mailers Inc. v. Maryland Casualty Co.

Download AT&T v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's

Download City of Ilwaco v. Affiliated FM Ins. Co

Download Colon v. US Liability Ins. Group

Download Colony Ins. Co. v. Georgia Pacific, LLC

Download Colony Ins. Co. v. Pearl River Basin Land & Development

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Court Determines Plaintiffs Punitive Damages Claims Are Futile In Reinsurance Dispute Under New York Law

Callon Petroleum Co. v. National Indemnity Co. et. al.

(United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, August 24, 2009)

Plaintiff commenced this reinsurance action against National based upon a judgment it obtained against insurer Frontier in Louisiana for $2.7 million.  The reinsurance agreement, which was negotiated and executed in New York, required National to reinsure Frontier’s liabilities and payments for all amounts of “Ultimate Net Loss.”  Pending before the Court was plaintiff’s motion to amend the complaint to include

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Prescription Drug Exception to Controlled Substance Exclusion in Policy Found Inapplicable

Massachusetts Prop. Ins. Underwriting Ass’n v. Gallagher (Mass. Ct. App. Aug. 24, 2009)

An insurer filed suit against a mother whose son committed suicide by ingesting lethal amounts of propoxyphene. In an underlying action, the mother alleged that the policyholder was negligent in leaving the substance, which the policyholder obtained pursuant to a doctor’s prescription, in a place accessible to her son despite knowledge of his fragile emotional state. The issue was whether the claim was excluded by a policy provision barring coverage for bodily …

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Reinsurer’s Breach of Fiduciary Duty Counterclaim Is Dismissed

The General Electric Company v. Lines

(Mass. Super. Suffolk County August 3, 2009)

Plaintiff incurred liability for environmental contamination, and plaintiff’s insurer refused to defend and indemnify it for that liability.  Plaintiff and its insurer reached a settlement, and the insurer filed a reinsurance claim, which was rejected.  After the insurers entered into arbitration on the reinsurance claim, the liability insurer redomesticated to Bermuda.  Plaintiff filed an action against the joint liquidators, and the reinsurer’s successor intervened to interpose defenses to plaintiff’s

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Reinsurers Commence Action Demanding Arbitration Regarding Alleged Losses Incurred by Hurricane Rita

Arch Reinsurance of Nebraska et al v. International Risk Insurance Co.

(SoUthern District of Texas, July 29, 2009)

On July 29, 2009, several reinsurers commenced a civil action in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, seeking to compel arbitration or, in the alternative, obtain a declaration of rights and liabilities between the parties.  The facts in the complaint allege that the insured, in anticipation of Hurricane Rita, began to shutdown ethylene furnaces.  A premature shutdown by a refinery caused a loss of steam

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District Court Dismisses One Billion Dollar Complaint Against AIG Due to Lack of Standing

NATIONAL COUNCIL ON COMPENSATION INSURANCE, INC. V. AIG, ET AL

(NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS AUGUST 20, 2009)

 

The issue before the district court is whether the National Council of Compensation Insurance, Inc. (“NCCI”) had standing to assert claims involving a National Workers Compensation Reinsurance Pool (“Pool”).  The Pool is an unincorporated active association that provides an insurance company with a means of complying with residual market requirements.  To become part of the Pool, insurers must execute a contract stating that the NCCI

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