In a recent decision, the Delaware Superior Court, applying Delaware law, held that two of Pfizer’s excess D&O insurers are on the hook for their portion of costs the company incurred in defending and settling a securities class action lawsuit, despite the excess insurers’ arguments that the claim was interrelated with an earlier securities suit … Continue Reading
I have frequently written on this blog about relatedness issues and how they affect the availability of D&O insurance coverage for a series of lawsuits that have been filed over time against a company. D&O insurers frequently argue, in order to try to avoid coverage, that a later lawsuit is related to an earlier proceeding … Continue Reading
As I have frequently noted on this blog (for example, here), problems involving relatedness between claims present recurring coverage issues under D&O insurance policies. In the following guest post, Maurice Pesso and Greg M. Steinberg of the White and Williams LLP law firm take a look at a recent decision out of the Northern District … Continue Reading
In a June 6, 2016 opinion (here), Middle District of Florida Judge Sheri Polster Chappell, applying Florida law, held that subsequent claims filed in 2011 and 2012 were interrelated with claims first made in 2008, and therefore deemed made at the time of the initial claim. Because the initial claim was filed before the relevant … Continue Reading
In a December 30, 2015 unpublished per curiam opinion, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s holding that a 2010 lawsuit filed to enforce a judgment was interrelated with the 2006 lawsuit in which the judgment had been entered, and therefore because the later was deemed first made at the time of the earlier lawsuit, … Continue Reading
When I started out as a law firm associate doing D&O insurance coverage work more than three decades ago, there was virtually no interpretive case law available. Legal research in connection with D&O insurance tended to be a meagre, frustrating process. Things have changed so much in the interim that now we can have two … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
As the litigation wave arrived following the global financial crisis, many financial institutions were hit with multiple suits that arrived piecemeal and over time. For D&O insurance coverage purposes, these lawsuits were filed across multiple policy periods. A recurring question as the subprime litigation has worked its way through the system is whether the various … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 the … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
A New York appellate court, applying New York law, has rejected a D&O insurer’s argument based on alleged late notice of claim that it had no coverage obligations for amounts Sirius XM Radio had incurred in underlying litigation, holding that the insurer’s policy was ambiguous on the timeliness requirements for notice of interrelated claims. A … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
IndyMac Coverage Suit Settled, But Oral Argument Will Stay on the Calendar?: As I noted in a recent post (here, second item), the parties in the IndyMac D&O insurance coverage action – that is, the dispute to determine whether or not only a single $80 million tower of insurance applies to the various D&O claims … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
My beat here at The D&O Diary requires me to read many insurance coverage decisions. I am well accustomed to the idea that the court opinions can be varied lot. But every now and then I run across a decision that is a real head-scratcher. A July 16, 2013 decision out of a Texas intermediate … Continue Reading
As I have previously noted (refer for example here), one of the most vexing issues in the D&O claims arena is the questions of whether or not two claims are or are not interrelated. If the two are interrelated, they are deemed a single claim for purposes of determining the claims made date. The outcome … Continue Reading
One of the perennial D&O insurance coverage questions is whether or not subsequent claims are “interrelated” with a prior claim and therefore deemed first made at the time of the prior claim. This question can be particularly critical when the subsequent claims arose during a successor policy period; the answer to the “interrelatedness” question can … Continue Reading
Of all the questions surrounding liability insurance, the one issue that seemingly ought to be most obvious is the amount of insurance potentially available to respond to claims. Indeed, the question of the amount of insurance potentially available for a single claim usually is relatively straightforward and usually is answered by reference to the limit … Continue Reading
The options backdating scandal may now be ancient history, but questions surrounding insurance coverage for the scandal’s consequences apparently continue to live on. In a September 9, 2011 opinion applying Maryland law, Southern District of New York Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ruled in a coverage action brought by SafeNet’s excess D&O insurer that, among many … Continue Reading
