Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog

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.

In a recent opinion, the 8th Circuit rejected an insurer’s attempt to expand insurer victories in a COVID-19 context to other more traditional claims of property damage. Reaffirming long standing principles, the court held soot and water damage associated with a fire constituted “direct physical loss or damage” under a commercial property insurance policy.

Google recently resolved two cases—one by verdict and one by settlement—involving allegations regarding the control that Google promised to give users over Google’s use of their data. 

On September 2, 2025, two class actions were filed in federal district court alleging that defendants digital advertising platforms Xandr, Inc. and Index Exchange, Inc. violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act by unlawfully intercepting wire communications for the purpose of violating the Department of Justice’s Bulk Data Transfer Rule.