Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog

On October 27, 2016, my colleague, Michael S. Levine, was quoted in Business Insurance concerning the recent decision in Camp’s Grocery Inc. v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., which he and I discussed on October 26, 2016 on the Hunton & Williams LLP Insurance Recovery Blog.  In Camp’s, the court refused to find coverage under legacy property and liability policies for third-party liabilities arising from the hacking of a point-of-sale network and the resulting breach of bank card and other data.  Mike's comments on the risk of relying on legacy coverage for cyber protection and the ...

On October 27, 2016, my colleague, Michael S. Levine, was quoted in Business Insurance concerning the recent decision in Camp’s Grocery Inc. v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., which he and I discussed on October 26, 2016 on the Hunton & Williams LLP Insurance Recovery Blog.  In Camp’s, the court refused to find coverage under legacy property and liability policies for third-party liabilities arising from the hacking of a point-of-sale network and the resulting breach of bank card and other data.  Mike's comments on the risk of relying on legacy coverage for cyber protection and the ...

On August 15, we wrote a blog post (which can be accessed here) about how the Eleventh Circuit certified to the Florida Supreme Court the issue of whether Florida’s pre-suit process in contractor cases, under Chapter 558 of the Florida Statutes, constitutes a “suit” under CGL policy language, which would trigger the insurer’s duty to defend. On October 25, various construction trade organizations and a nonprofit policyholder advocacy group, United Policyholders, urged the Florida Supreme Court to rule in favor of Altman Contractor Inc.’s (“Altman”) interpretation that a construction defect notice issued under Chapter 558 constitutes a “suit” under CGL policies because such a reading would promote insureds and insurers to resolve disputes with the underlying plaintiff out of court and because CGL policies should be construed broadly to provide coverage for pre-litigation proceedings.

On March 31 and April 15, we wrote blog posts (which can be accessed here and here) about a D.C. federal judge's decision to rescind MetLife's systematically important financial institution (SIFI) status. On October 24, a D.C. Circuit three-judge panel heard oral argument of the appeal of that decision. The federal government advocated to reinstate MetLife's "too big to fail" designation by arguing that regulators were not required to prove the insurance giant was likely to collapse before imposing enhanced federal oversight. Conversely, attorneys for MetLife argued that the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) acted arbitrarily by not partaking in any threshold analysis of how MetLife would be vulnerable to a financial collapse.

As reported in the Privacy & Information Security Law blog, on October 25, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission released a guide for businesses on how to handle and respond to data breaches (the “Guide”). The 16-page guide details steps businesses should take once they become aware of a potential breach. The guide also underscores the need for cyber-specific insurance to help offset potentially significant response costs.

As reported in the Hunton Retail Law Resource blog, a federal judge in Alabama ruled Tuesday that a grocer could not rely on its legacy business insurance policies – including an "electronic data" coverage extension – to protect against third-party claims after customer data was compromised by a point-of-sale cyberattack. The decision in Camp's Grocery, Inc. v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company is yet another reminder to policyholders to ensure that their cyber security programs include both adequate cyber security safeguards and appropriate first-party and third-party cyber/crime insurance coverages. Failure to maintain either may jeopardize coverage for resulting cyber losses.

In a seemingly illogical decision, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Apache Corp. v. Great American Ins. Co., No 15-20499 (5th Cir. Oct. 18, 2016), that loss resulting from a fraudulent e-mail did not trigger coverage under a crime policy's "computer fraud" coverage because the loss was not the "direct result" of computer use.

Hunton & Williams LLP’s insurance coverage counseling and litigation team has relocated its core group of lawyers to Washington from McLean, Va. Hunton’s Washington office is home to more than 150 lawyers and is the firm’s second-largest office.

“The move is good for us and great for our clients,” says practice head Walter J. Andrews. “Being in the nation’s capital better provides us with national exposure and a central location to assist our clients nationally and internationally.”

Hunton’s insurance coverage counseling and litigation lawyers have kept pace ...

Hunton & Williams LLP’s insurance coverage counseling and litigation team has relocated its core group of lawyers to Washington from McLean, Va. Hunton’s Washington office is home to more than 150 lawyers and is the firm’s second-largest office.

“The move is good for us and great for our clients,” says practice head Walter J. Andrews. “Being in the nation’s capital better provides us with national exposure and a central location to assist our clients nationally and internationally.”

Hunton’s insurance coverage counseling and litigation lawyers have kept pace ...

With hurricane season in full swing, policyholders should keep an eye on the Texas Supreme Court for a decision that may impact future recovery efforts. On Tuesday, October 11, 2016, the Texas Supreme Court heard oral argument in USAA Texas Lloyds Co. v. Gail Menchaca, Case No. 14-0721, regarding whether a jury’s award of damages for the insurer’s failure to conduct a reasonable investigation (in violation of the Texas Insurance Code) could stand despite the jury’s finding that the insurer did not breach the insurance policy.

On October 7, 2016, an article by Hunton & Williams’ insurance lawyers Walter J. Andrews, Michael S. Levine and Andrea DeField, discussing insurance recovery options for those affected by Hurricane Matthew, was published in the Daily Business Review.  The full article is available here.  In the article, the authors discuss the types of coverage that may be available to affected policyholders and some of the pitfalls they should look out for as they mitigate their losses and navigate the claim process.  The authors can be contacted directly for follow up at wandrews@hunton.com ...