One of the perennial D&O insurance coverage issues has to do with whether a later claim made during the policy period is interrelated with an earlier claim made prior to the policy period, and whether the later claim therefore is deemed under the policy to have been made prior to the policy periods. These issues were front and center in a recent coverage dispute in which the door manufacturer Jeld-Wen argued that earlier antitrust liability actions were not interrelated with the later securities class actions. In an interesting November 18, 2022 opinion by Western District of North Carolina Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr., applying North Carolina law, held that the antitrust and securities actions were interrelated; that the securities claim was deemed first made prior to the policy period of the excess insurer’s policy; and therefore that the settlement of the securities claim was not covered by the policy at issue. A copy of Judge Cogburn’s opinion can be found here.
Continue Reading Prior Antitrust Action Held Interrelated with Later Securities Suit
Prior Acts Exclusion Does Not Preclude Coverage Where Subsequent Claim Independent from Alleged Prior Acts
In a January 23, 2018 unpublished decision (here), the Eleventh Circuit held that a D&O insurance policy’s prior acts exclusion does not preclude coverage where the subsequent claim against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 court’s ruling rejecting a D&O insurer’s argument that the exclusion precluded coverage for the FDIC’s claim against the former directors and officers of a failed bank, underscores the necessity for a link between the prior wrongful acts and the subsequent claim in order for the exclusion to preclude coverage for the claim. The Carlton Fields law firm’s February 26, 2018 memo about the decision can be found here.
Continue Reading Prior Acts Exclusion Does Not Preclude Coverage Where Subsequent Claim Independent from Alleged Prior Acts
D&O Insurance: HIPAA Supoenas, Interrelatedness, and Regulatory Claim Sublimits
In an interesting September 30, 2015 opinion, Southern District of California Cynthia Bashant, applying California law, held that a series of HIPAA-related subpoenas that the U.S. Department of Justice served on Millennium Laboratories were not interrelated with prior qui tam lawsuits that had been filed against the company, and held further that coverage under Millennium’s D&O insurance policy for the company’s costs of responding to the subpoenas was not limited by the policy’s $100,000 sublimit for Regulatory Claims. A copy of Judge Bashant’s opinion can be found here.
Continue Reading D&O Insurance: HIPAA Supoenas, Interrelatedness, and Regulatory Claim Sublimits
Guest Post: Give Notice on Your D&O Claim…Yesterday
A frequently recurring management liability insurance coverage issue involves the question of whether or not the policyholder has given timely notice as required under the policy, as I have discussed in prior posts on this blog (most recently here). Among the many kinds of notice issues that can arise are questions involving multiple or
D&O Insurance: Subsequent Lawsuit to Enforce Judgment Held Interrelated with Prior Adversary Action
The question of whether or not a subsequent claim is interrelated with a prior claim — and therefore deemed first made at the time the earlier claim was filed – is a recurring D&O insurance coverage issue. If the later claim is to be deemed first made at the time of the prior lawsuit, then
Despite Policyholder’s Delayed Notice, Insurer Must Cover Subsequent Claims Related to Earlier Timely Claim
On July 16, 2014, the Eighth Circuit, applying New York law, concluded that because a financial services firm’s professional liability insurance policy was ambiguous on the question whether the policy’s timely notice requirements apply to later claims related to a timely original claim, the policy provides coverage for the later claims. The district court had
D&O Insurance: FDIC’s Claims Against Failed Bank’s Directors and Officers Not Related to Earlier Claims, Trigger Separate Policy Period
On July 9, 2014, in yet another in the ever growing line of cases examining whether or not separate D&O claims involving interrelated wrongful acts, District of Puerto Rico Judge Gustavo Gelpi, applying Puerto Rico law, held that the FDIC’s claims against the former directors and officers of the failed Westernbank did not involve
D&O Insurance: Later Securities Suit and Prior FDIC Failed Bank Claim Held Unrelated, Securities Suit Not Covered
On May 8, 2014, Southern District of New York Judge Deborah Batts, applying New York law, held that a there was not a sufficient “factual nexus” between a securities suit filed after the expiration of a failed bank’s D&O insurance policy and an FDIC claim that had been first made during the policy period and
Lender Liability Coverage: Contractual Liability Exclusion Does Not Preclude Coverage for Interrelated Claim
In a March 20, 2014 decision involving interpretation of the interrelated wrongful acts provision and of the contractual liability exclusion in a bank professional liability insurance policy, District of Idaho Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush entered summary judgment on behalf of the policyholder, ruling that the underlying dispute was covered under the policy’s lender liability
D&O Insurance: What May Be Considered In Deciding Whether Claims Are Interrelated?
In yet another insurance coverage dispute in which a D&O insurer denied coverage for a claim based on the assertion that the claim was interrelated with a prior claim first made before its policy period, District of Massachusetts Judge Rya Zobel has ruled that BioChemics is not entitled to summary judgment on the issue of