One issue courts often confront is the question of what they may properly consider in determining whether or not an insurer has a duty to defend an insured in a given set of circumstances. In many jurisdictions, the courts may consider only the underlying complaint and the terms and conditions of the policy, and nothing else. In a recent decision, an Illinois intermediate appellate court, applying Illinois law, held that the trial court properly considered extrinsic matter – in this case, the insured’s description of events in his notice of claim to the insurer—in holding that the policy’s Cyber Events exclusion precluded coverage, even though the underlying complaint did not refer to the cybersecurity incident. The court’s decision raises some interesting questions, as discussed below.Continue Reading May a Court Consider Extrinsic Matter in Determining an Insurer’s Duty to Defend?

Jennifer Weinstein
Jamie Filipovic

Most readers of this site are acquainted with or at least aware of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). In the following guest post, written by Jennifer Weinstein, Senior Claims Manager, Management Liability Claims, Intact Insurance Specialty Solutions, and Jamie Filipovic, Partner, O’Hagan Meyer, LLC, the authors explain that we are now likely going to have to be come familiar with the Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA), and for many of the same reasons. I would like to thank Jenn and Jamie for allowing me to publish their article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submission from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is the authors’ article.Continue Reading Guest Post: What you Need to Know about Illinois’ Genetic Information Privacy Act