Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog

The ongoing military action between the U.S., Israel, and Iran is affecting commerce both in the region and globally. There have already been reports of several oil tankers, cargo vessels, and a data center being damaged in attacks. Even businesses not directly impacted will be affected as shipping companies avoid the Strait of Hormuz, causing delays and higher prices for downstream customers. While many might assume insurance coverage is unavailable, that is not always the case and knowing where to look is key.

M&A activity was strong in 2025, marking the second-best year on record for both global and North American markets. Technology, industrials, finance, and healthcare remained at the forefront, with retail and consumer products sectors also seeing a lot of movement. On a full-year basis, total deal value in retail, consumer products, and hospitality reached its highest level since the pandemic-era peak in 2021.

If recent years have taught insurance practitioners anything, it is that the most consequential coverage disputes rarely turn on novelty alone. In 2025, courts continued to resolve high‑stakes insurance disputes by returning to first principles—examining when claims are related, how losses and occurrences are defined and aggregated, and how policy language allocates risk across time and conduct. D&O coverage and other core insurance law issues again occupied center stage, while decisions in property, cyber, and liability disputes reinforced a familiar theme: policy interpretation remains the decisive factor in determining whether coverage is available in an increasingly complex claims environment. As the decisions discussed below demonstrate, 2025 confirmed that even as risks evolve, coverage disputes remain grounded in careful, policy‑specific analysis.

Hunton’s 2025 Retail Industry Year in Review offers an in-depth examination of key challenges and developments that impacted retailers last year, as well as insights into what the industry can expect in 2026. With topics that include agentic AI, trends in privacy laws, tariff duty refunds, algorithmic pricing, food and beverage legal trends, retail M&A activity, and consumer data in bankruptcy, we hope this proves useful and insightful to you. We look forward to supporting you in the year ahead.