Casualty Coverage Chronicle

The coverage dispute in Home Depot, Inc., et al v. Steadfast Insurance Company, et al. arises out of a 2014 data breach of millions of Home Depot’s customers’ payment information. As a result of the breach, the financial institutions needed to cancel and replace the effected cards. Subsequently, these financial institutions filed a class action

While not often in the limelight, standard business practice relies on service contracts and, in turn, risk transfer through those contracts. Critical issues can arise regarding whether a party seeking additional insured coverage is actually an additional insured, and if so, the amount of policy limits available. As extreme jury awards, or “nuclear verdicts,” become

“We cannot enforce insurance provisions that render coverage so narrow it is illusory.”[1]  The Washington Supreme Court used this reasoning to hold that a contractor’s commercial general liability policy was unenforceable where it required that an “occurrence” occur and a claim be made and reported to the insurer in the same year.

According

Since Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc. v. Shute, 499 U.S. 585 (1991), forum selection clauses typically enjoy robust enforcement at both the state and federal levels. For that reason, in many (if not most) jurisdictions, contracting parties have the right and ability to structure their contracts how they see fit, including through the inclusion of a

In Crown Energy Co. v. Mid-Continent Cas. Co., Case No. 116989, 2022 WL 2128667 (Okla. June 14, 2022), the Oklahoma Supreme Court concluded that seismic activity caused by water waste disposal wells in oil and gas operations constituted an “occurrence” that was covered under a commercial general liability (CGL) policy.  The Court also found that

Typically, comprehensive cyber
insurance policies, rather than commercial crime policies, respond to claims of
data breach and other cybercrimes. With the rise in hacking and ransomware
attacks worldwide, businesses that may have chosen not to purchase cyber
insurance may find themselves without coverage in the event of a cyberattack.

A recent decision by the Indiana

In Berkley Specialty Ins. Co. v. Masterforce Constr. Corp., No.
4:19-CV-01162, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14006 (M.D. Pa. Jan. 26, 2021) (Brann,
J.), the Court recently concluded that, under Pennsylvania law, all reasonably
foreseeable damages to third-party property caused by faulty workmanship do not
constitute an “accident” sufficient to trigger coverage under a commercial
general

In Berkley Specialty Ins. Co. v. Masterforce Constr. Corp., No.
4:19-CV-01162, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14006 (M.D. Pa. Jan. 26, 2021) (Brann,
J.), the Court recently concluded that, under Pennsylvania law, all reasonably
foreseeable damages to third-party property caused by faulty workmanship do not
constitute an “accident” sufficient to trigger coverage under a commercial
general