Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog

On February 13, 2020, a Texas federal court granted summary judgment in favor of coverage, finding the policyholder provided sufficient notice to its insurer of a potential claim for damages caused by allegedly contaminated proppant used at a well site in west Texas.  See Evanston Insurance Company v. OPF Enterprises, LLC, Civil Action No. 4:17-CV-2048 (S.D.T.X. Feb. 13, 2020) (Dkt. No. 51) .  The Court found that the policyholder’s notice of a potential claim was effective when provided to the insurer’s agent, even though it was not provided directly to the insurer itself.

On November 4, Michael Levine and Matthew McLellan provided commentary for Westlaw about the Fifth Circuit’s recent decision in Apache Corp. v. Great American Insurance Co., No. 15-20499, 2016 WL 6090901 (5^th Cir. Oct. 18, 2016), on which Michael Levine had previously written a blog post. In the Westlaw Journal: Computer and Internet, Mike and Matt discussed a frustrating gap in coverage for “computer fraud” that may be found in some crime policies. They encourage policyholders to review their legacy and cyber policies to ensure that complex cyber risks are actually covered ...

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.