On June 6, 2024, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum Co., No. 22-1079, conferring broad standing to debtors’ pre-bankruptcy liability insurers to appear and be heard in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The ruling eliminates the “insurance neutrality” doctrine that previously constrained the participation of insurers in Chapter 11, greatly expanding insurers’ capacity to influence the reorganization process.Continue Reading Shifting Gears on Insurer Participation in Chapter 11 Proceedings: U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Longstanding “Insurance Neutrality” Doctrine
Contractual Indemnity Claims
Update on Case Law Developments for BIPA Damages and Insurance Recovery for BIPA Claims
By Joseph Englert, Katharine P. Lennox & McGuireWoods LLP on
In May 2022, the Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Cothron v. White Castle System, Inc. — a case that will have a substantial impact on the liability for violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). BIPA is considered to be among the most robust law in the U.S. governing biometric privacy, and Illinois is among the few jurisdictions permitting private suits for the unlawful collection, storage of such data. Since its inception in 2008, BIPA has been the source of a flurry of lawsuits, many of which have resulted in substantial settlements. The court is set to determine how to calculate the number of individual BIPA violations, whether damages accrue each time an employee scans her fingerprint, or whether the first recorded scan is the sole violation. If the Illinois high court determines that damages accrue with each scan and BIPA violations are ongoing, then the potential damages for BIPA lawsuits would increase exponentially and open a flood of new claims. Fortunately, insurance policyholders have had recent success arguing that coverage exists for BIPA violations under Commercial General Liability (“CGL”) policies. A plaintiff-friendly ruling in the Cothron case would make the ability to recover under these policies even more important, and potentially open additional avenues for recovery. In anticipation of this important ruling, this article provides a brief background on BIPA and summarizes the key decisions relating to insurance recovery of BIPA damages.
Continue Reading Update on Case Law Developments for BIPA Damages and Insurance Recovery for BIPA Claims
Beyond the Eight Corners: Determining Whether a Liability Insurer’s Duty to Defend Is Triggered
By Nicholas Hill, Drew Gann & Etahjayne Harris on
In two recent decisions, the Texas Supreme Court defined the limited parameters in which Texas courts can look beyond the “four corners” of the complaint against the policyholder and the “four corners” of the insurance policy (i.e., the “eight-corners rule”) when determining whether an insurer’s “duty to defend” is triggered.
Permitting exceptions to the “eight-corners rule” and, in limited instances, allowing the use of extrinsic evidence to determine whether the duty to defend applies, requires policyholders to pay extra care to whether their insurers are properly accepting or denying defense of a suit. Application of fact-intensive tests like the Texas Supreme Court just announced varies from state to state.Continue Reading Beyond the Eight Corners: Determining Whether a Liability Insurer’s Duty to Defend Is Triggered