A federal district court has ruled that a third-party administrator’s professional liability policy does not afford coverage for a claim against the TPA arising from an excess judgment against the TPA’s insurer-client. American Claims Mgmt., Inc. v. Allied World Surplus Lines Ins. Co., 2020 WL 5257795 (S.D. Cal. Sept. 3, 2020).
Continue Reading No Coverage for TPA in Claim Arising from Extracontractual Exposure to Insurer
The United States District Court for the District of Utah has held that an errors and omissions policy’s “options trading” exclusion applied to bar coverage for claims resulting from an insured investment company’s high-risk trade. Allegis Invest. Servs., LLC v. Arthur Gallagher & Co., 2019 WL 1002364 (D. Utah Mar. 1, 2019).
Continue Reading Options Trading Exclusion Unambiguously Bars Coverage for Investor Claims
Applying California law, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California has held that coverage is precluded under a claims-made D&O policy based on two exclusions: a specific circumstances exclusion and a prior notice exclusion. Landmark Am. Ins. Co. v. Navigators Ins. Co., 2018 WL 6591620 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 14, 2018).
Continue Reading Specific Circumstances and Prior Notice Exclusions Bar Coverage for Trustee’s Lawsuit Against Former Directors and Officers
A California appellate court has held that a pipeline owner’s insurer is not entitled to reimbursement of defense costs and settlement payments from the insurer for the staffing agency that supplied personnel to the pipeline because the professional services exclusion in the staffing agency’s policy unambiguously barred coverage. Energy Ins. Mut. Ltd. v. ACE American Ins. Co., 2017 WL 3476705 (Cal. Ct. App., July 11, 2017).
Continue Reading Professional Services Exclusion Bars Coverage in Connection with Pipeline Explosion
A New Jersey federal district court has held that a declaratory judgment and breach of contract action against a professional liability insurer was not subject to dismissal for failure to state a claim based on the policy’s conversion of funds exclusion as a matter of law because the court could not conclude whether conversion occurred, or whether the claim arose out of conversion, at such an early stage in the proceeding. ABL Title Ins. Agency, LLC v. Maxum Indem. Co., 2016 WL 3610163 (D.N.J. June 30, 2016).
Continue Reading Declaratory Judgment Complaint Not Subject to Insurer’s Motion to Dismiss Based on Conversion of Funds Exclusion
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has held that coverage was precluded for a negligence claim because the claim arose out of the insured’s contractual liability and was thus barred by the contractual liability exclusion contained in the D&O policy. Bond Safeguard Ins. Co. v. Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, PA, 2015 WL 5781002 (11th Cir. Oct. 5, 2015). In so holding, the court held that there was a sufficient causal connection between the negligence claim and the insured’s contractual liability to enforce the unambiguous terms of the exclusion.
Continue Reading Contractual Liability Exclusion Bars Coverage for Negligence Claim
Applying Massachusetts law, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts has held that a policy exclusion for injury “arising out of” copyright infringement bars coverage for a lawsuit alleging that the claimant infringed the insured’s software copyrights, even in the absence of a claim for infringement by the insured. PTC, Inc. v. Charter Oak Fire Ins. Co., 2015 WL 5005796 (D. Mass. Aug. 21, 2015).
Continue Reading Claim Asserting Innocence in Alleged Copyright Infringement “Arises Out of” Copyright Infringement and Triggers Exclusion