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Private company management liability insurance policies typically contain certain policy exclusions, including, for example, the Insured v. Insured Exclusion and the Contractual Liability Exclusion. These exclusions often include carve-backs preserving coverage for otherwise excluded claims. While the exclusions and even the carve-backs may be familiar, the way they operate in practice may not be as familiar, particularly the carve-backs. In a recent insurance coverage decision from the District of Massachusetts, applying Massachusetts law, the court considered how common coverage carve-backs operate and interact. Readers may find the way the carve-backs did or did not apply to provide some interesting lessons. A copy of the Court’s November 9, 2023, opinion can be found here.Continue Reading Carve Backs Preserve Coverage for Otherwise Excluded Claims

In a June 29, 2023, decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the college’s use of affirmative action in its admissions program was unconstitutional. The discrimination case against the college not only went all the way to the Supreme Court but was also the subject of a long-running insurance coverage dispute involving the college’s excess employment practices insurance. In an August 9, 2023, ruling, the First Circuit held in the insurance coverage dispute that the college’s late provision of notice of claim regarding the underlying discrimination lawsuit precluded excess coverage for the claim. This high-profile insurance coverage ruling has some important lessons about the provision of notice to insurers in connection with liability claims. A copy of the appellate court’s August 9, 2023, ruling can be found here.Continue Reading Late Notice Precludes Excess Coverage for High-Profile Harvard Suit