Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog

Earlier today, FC&S Legal published an article by Hunton & Williams insurance lawyers Mike Levine and Matt McLellan, discussing the Seventh Circuit’s recent decision in Cincinnati Ins. Co. v. H.D. Smith, LLC , in which the court held that a general liability insurer must defend a West Virginia pharmaceutical distributor in litigation brought by the State of West Virginia alleging it had contributed to an epidemic of prescription drug abuse.  The decision is significant for policyholders in West Virginia and elsewhere because it illustrates that the general liability policy’s defense coverage is not to be read narrowly; rather, the causal connection between the damages alleged and any “bodily  injury” to which they relate can be quite attenuated and still be sufficient to trigger a defense.