This Week At The Ninth: Sand Dredgers And The Duty To Defend - Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration mondaq.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mondaq.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
ADVERTISEMENT
Calif. Stores Not Owed Defense Of Fraud Suit, 9th Circ. Says
Law360 (April 15, 2021, 6:43 PM EDT) The Ninth Circuit affirmed Thursday that a California law barring insurance for unfair competition actions relieved a Starr Insurance Cos. unit from having to defend the operator of the Curacao retail chain against the state s claims that it engaged in predatory business tactics, spurning the retailer s argument that the law is unconstitutional.
A unanimous three-judge panel of the appellate court left intact a California federal court s ruling that Starr Indemnity and Liability Co. does not have to defend Curacao operator Adir International LLC and its CEO, Ron Azarkman, in the underlying action filed in 2017 by then-California Attorney General Xavier Becerra..
ADVERTISEMENT
Liberty On The Hook For $7.5M In Wrongful Death Judgment
Law360 (January 13, 2021, 10:21 PM EST) A Missouri appellate court has affirmed a ruling against Liberty Insurance Corp. and in favor of a primary insurer and the family of a man who died after he was ejected from a vehicle at a dairy farm, allowing the family to collect $7.5 million from a Liberty umbrella insurance policy.
Judge W. Douglas Thomson, writing for the panel Tuesday, affirmed two lower court judgments in favor of Starr Indemnity & Liability Co. and the family of Richard Geiler, who died while he was working at a dairy farm as part of a rehabilitation program in 2015, according to the opinion..
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Brooklyn Building Owner Seeks Construction Injury Coverage
Law360 (January 7, 2021, 10:48 PM EST) The owner of a luxury Brooklyn apartment building sued Starr Indemnity and Liability Co. in New York state court, alleging Thursday that the insurer breached an insurance contract by not defending it in a construction injury suit under a $1.75 million policy.
Kent Avenue Property 3 LLC is asking the court to hold that Starr is obligated to defend and indemnify it in an underlying action alleging liability over a workplace accident that happened during the construction of the building.
In March 2013, a construction accident occurred when Erwin Herrera, a worker on the site, was allegedly struck by an excavator..
Federal Court in Georgia Applies
Hoover Rule Finding that Insurers Who Sent Denial Letters Waived Right to Assert Other Coverage Defenses Later.
Eight years ago in
Hoover v. Maxum Indemnity Co., 730 S.E.2d 413 (Ga. 2012), Georgia’s Supreme Court cautioned insurers against the common practice of denying coverage on one ground at the outset of a claim’s investigation, and later amending or supplementing that coverage denial to assert new coverage defenses if the initial reasons for denying coverage fail. Under
Hoover, when an insurer responds to a Georgia policyholder’s claim notification, it has three options: (1) confirm coverage for the claim; (2) defend the claim under a reservation of rights to deny coverage later after a claim investigation; or (3) deny the claim outright.