On May 23, 2014, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington held that, where a "Claim" was first made during the first of two consecutive claims-made-and-reported polices, but not reported until the second policy, no coverage was available under either policy. Great Am. Ins. Co. v. Sea Shepherd Conservation Soc'y, Case No. 13-CV-1017 (W.D. Wash. May 23, 2014)....

John A. Husmann published an analysis of noteworthy decisions concerning insurance coverage for construction defect claims handed down in the first quarter of 2014. These cases have dealt with, among other things, the "occurrence" requirement, contractual liability exclusion and "other insurance" clauses. A copy of the article can be found here.

Adam H. Fleischer published an article in the London publication, Insurance Day, entitled, "US brain injury litigation threatens future of American football." In the article, Mr. Fleischer analyzes the recent spate of litigation arising from chronic traumatic encephalpathy (CTE) experienced in athletes suffering blows to the head - an issue front and center in the NCAA, NFL and high school football programs across the nation. Insurers can expect claims and costs to rise as CTE becomes more easily diagnosable, and the resulting litigation continues to grow. The article is attached here.

On March 6, 2014, David M. Alt spoke at the Claims Litigation Management Conference on "Reservation of Rights and the Insured's Right to Independent Counsel." The conference was part of CLM's ongoing training seminars for insurance professionals. The presentation spanned several topics concerning Independent Counsel, including the proper protocol for acknowledging a claim, assessment of the insurer's duty to defend, the insured's right to independent counsel, state-specific statutory requirements for reservation of rights letters, waiver and estoppel, and bad faith issues. David M. Alt speaks regularly at litigation and insurance conferences, as well as in-house for a number of our insurer clients.

Maria G. Enriquez has been selected as a Top Rated Lawyer in Chicago by the rating service, ALM. ALM rates top lawyers around the nation to be included in a magazine that is distributed with the Wall Street Journal, the American Lawyer, and the National Law Journal, among others. An online version of the magazine will also be available at www.law.com and www.chicagotribune.com. Congratulations Maria!

Savers Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Indus. Safety & Env’t. Servs. Inc. (N.D. Ind. 2014)

On March 25, 2014, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana granted summary judgment in favor of our client on a retractive coverage date issue. 

Maria G. Enriquez teaches a section on "Liability Insurance – Defense and Settlement" in a course on Insurance & Regulation at Wake Forest University School of Law. Ms. Enriquez taught for three days concerning defense and settlement issues in connection with insurance issues. She also spoke at a Lunch & Learn at Wake Forest concerning recent developments and topics in insurance law.

Maria G. Enriquez was honored and recognized by Martindale-Hubbell in its Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers. The American Registry at Martindale-Hubbell recognizes and rewards excellence with custom awards based on peer review ratings. Congratulations to Ms. Enriquez!

Confidential

An arbitration panel agreed with BatesCarey LLP's argument that the "follow the fortunes" doctrine did not require a reinsurer to drop down and reinsure any portion of the risk below $1 million, even when the cedent had been required to drop down and pay a loss incepting at less than $1 million. The panel also rejected the cedent's claim for more than $113,000 in interest.

For 2014, Leading Lawyers announced that 11 partners at BatesCarey LLP were leading lawyers in the in the category of insurance coverage. Leading Lawyers is an independent rating service which gathers its list of honorees only after contact with thousands of lawyers in a given state. Lawyers are asked to rate which of their peers they believe comprise the top lawyers in their state in each practice area. Only those lawyers who are most often recommended qualify as Leading Lawyers. This honor is limited to less than five percent of all lawyers licensed to practice law in a given state.

Congratulations to this year's Leading Lawyers:

Robert J. Bates, Jr.
Arthur F. Brandt
Scott L. Carey
Maria G. Enriquez
Stanley V. Figura
Adam H. Fleischer
Maryann C. Hayes
Matthew M. Murphy
Joseph P. Pozen
John E. Rodewald
Mark G. Sheridan