A frequently recurring claim that many companies face is a lawsuit brought by a competitor after the company hires the competitor’s former employee. Depending on how the competitor’s lawsuit is framed, these kinds of claims can be an awkward fit with the defendant company’s D&O insurance policy. A recent insurance coverage dispute in Delaware state … Continue Reading
D&O insurance issues can be particularly difficult in the bankruptcy context. A number of issues can arise in the bankruptcy context that are not usually involved in ordinary claims circumstances. In the following guest post, Trinitee Green of the Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner law firm reviews and analyzes a particularly complicated set of circumstances that … Continue Reading
As I have frequently noted, a recurring and vexing D&O insurance issue is the question of relatedness between different claims. Another frequent D&O insurance coverage issue is the question of the applicability of a special event or prior litigation exclusion. A recent Southern District of Indiana decision, applying Indiana law, addressed both of these issues … Continue Reading
In a January 23, 2018 unpublished decision (here), the Eleventh Circuit held that a D&O insurance policy’s prior acts exclusion does not preclude coverage where the subsequent claim against insured persons is “independent” from the alleged wrongful acts that occurred prior to the policy period. The appellate court’s opinion, in which it affirmed a district … Continue Reading
In the following guest post, Syed Ahmad, Brittany Davidson, and Andrea DeField of Hunton & Williams LLP take a look at a very interesting New York trial court decision relating to D&O insurers’ duty to advance defense costs. I would like to thank the authors for their willingness to allow me to publish their article … Continue Reading
A recurring D&O insurance issue is the question of whether or not coverage for a particular claim is precluded under the relevant policy’s professional services exclusion. A recent decision by the Second Circuit addressed questions concerning the applicability of a professional services exclusion in a D&O insurance coverage dispute arising out of the mistake-plagued Facebook … Continue Reading
Over the last few days, I have published several posts looking back at 2017. In addition to looking back, this is also the time of year for looking forward as well. Among other things to watch out for this year is a series of D&O insurance coverage cases that are now pending in the appellate … Continue Reading
In the following guest post, Jennifer Bergstrom, Esq., Senior Claim Counsel, Hiscox USA, Elan Kandel, Esq. and Jennifer Lewis, Esq. of Bailey Cavalieri take a look at the key D&O insurance coverage decisions of 2017. I would like to thank the authors for allowing me to publish their article. I welcome guest post submissions from … Continue Reading
Insurance policies are of course written documents, dependent upon standard conventions of grammar and usage in order to establish their meaning. A recent unpublished opinion from the Ninth Circuit wrestled with the grammar rules involved when an insurance application’s question and answer created a double negative. Even though a literal reading of the application question … Continue Reading
A standard exclusion found in most private company directors and officers insurance policies precludes coverage for claims brought by one insured against another insured – the so-called Insured vs. Insured exclusion. The exclusion typically includes several coverage carve-backs preserving coverage for certain types of claims for which the exclusion would otherwise preclude coverage. One relatively … Continue Reading
Over the course of several years in which the marketplace for D&O insurance has been highly competitive, the scope of coverage available has continued to evolve and expand. Terms and conditions are available today that were not available even a short time ago, as carriers attempt to distinguish themselves in a crowded marketplace. The marketplace … Continue Reading
Most professional liability insurance policies are written on a claims-made basis – that is, they cover only claims first made during the applicable policy period. A recurring issue under these kinds of policies is the question of when a claim was first made. This question can be particularly complicated if there were pre-policy period communications … Continue Reading
D&O insurance policies typically specify that the insurer’s written consent is required for a policyholder to settle a claim, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld. This consent-to-settlement clause is the not infrequent source of coverage disputes, usually involving circumstances where the policyholder has gone ahead and settled a claim without seeking the requisite consent. … Continue Reading
As I have detailed on this blog (most recently here), due to two Delaware court decisions — the Delaware Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC (here) and the Delaware Chancery Court’s January 2016 court decision in the In re Trulia Shareholder litigation (here)—deal litigation that in the past would have been filed in Delaware … Continue Reading
The insurance available under a D&O insurance policy does not protect insured individuals for all of their activities; rather, the policy protects the individuals only for their actions undertaken in their capacities as officer or directors of the insured organization. The policy does not protect the individuals for actions undertaken in their personal capacity or … Continue Reading
The difficulty with pure “claims made and reported” coverage – where the claim must both be made and reported during the policy period in order for coverage to be triggered – is that it can lead to harsh outcomes, as I have noted in prior posts. A recent unpublished Ninth Circuit decision, in which the … Continue Reading
In an insurance coverage dispute arising out of the high-profile and long-running SEC investigation of and enforcement action against the investment firm Patriarch Partners and its CEO Lynn Tilton, a federal district court judge has ruled that coverage under Patriarch’s excess D&O insurance policy is precluded under the policy’s “Pending and Prior Claim” exclusion, because … Continue Reading
An acquired bank’s D&O insurer’s defense cost obligation to the bank’s directors and officers in connection with merger-related litigation continued after the merger transaction closed and was owed to the acquiring bank, a federal district court judge has held, rejecting the policy-based arguments on which the insurer relied to contend that its payment obligations ceased … Continue Reading
One of the perennial D&O insurance coverage questions is the issue of whether or not the D&O policy provides coverage for costs incurred in responding to a subpoena, as I have discussed in prior posts (refer here and here). Increasingly these days, policies expressly address the issue through language specifying that a subpoena is a … Continue Reading
In a unpublished August 30, 2017 opinion (here), the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that a trial court verdict that a hospital system had violated the antitrust laws was not an adjudication sufficient to trigger the improper profit exclusion in the hospital system’s D&O insurance policy, and therefore that the hospital system was … Continue Reading
As litigation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has proliferated in recent years, one of the recurring questions has been whether the defendants have insurance coverage for these kinds of claims. The insurance questions have in turn generated insurance coverage litigation, primarily with respect to the defendants’ CGL insurance policies, but also with respect … Continue Reading
Much has been written about the explosive growth in merger objection litigation in recent years. A less common but increasingly frequent type of merger-related litigation is appraisal rights litigation. In these types of lawsuits an investor exercises his or her statutory right for a judicial determination of the value of his or her stock. These … Continue Reading
Those of us immersed in the world of directors and officers could not imagine becoming involved in any sort of business organization without the protection and benefit of D&O insurance. Just the same, I have fairly regular conversations with officials and executives at closely held companies who see no need for the insurance, on their … Continue Reading
The right of shareholders to demand inspection of companies’ books and records is of course nothing new. What is new is the increased frequency of books and records demands, often as a result of courts’ requirement for prospective shareholder claimants to investigate alleged misconduct of corporate executives before filing a lawsuit. The scope of the … Continue Reading
