Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog

Kanye West’s touring company, Very Good Touring, Inc. (Very Good), and its insurer, Lloyd’s of London (Lloyd’s), have resolved their dispute over event cancellation coverage for West’s “Life of Pablo” Tour, which experienced canceled shows due to West’s health condition. The settlement resolved all claims and counterclaims.

In Universal Cable Productions LLC, et al. v. Atlantic Specialty Insurance Co., No. 2:16-cv-04435 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 6, 2017), the United States District Court for the Central District of California held that a “war” exclusion barred insurance coverage for losses arising from NBCUniversal’s decision to postpone and relocate production of its action-thriller miniseries Dig, due to an armed conflict between Israel and Hamas.  During the conflict, Hamas and other militant groups fired over 4,000 rockets and mortar shells into Israel, forcing NBCU to halt filming in Jerusalem and move production to Croatia and New Mexico.

In an article published September 12, 2017 in South Florida’s Daily Business Review, Hunton & Williams insurance lawyers Walter Andrews and Andrea DeField explained why it is critical that policyholders act fast to maximize insurance recovery for their hurricane-related losses.  They also provided a checklist to guide policyholders through the claim process.  As Andrews and DeField explain, in addition to providing prompt notice to all potential insurers, policyholders should collect all loss-related receipts and document the damage with photographs.  Good organization of ...

In a prior blog post, we discussed Kanye West's touring company's, Very Good Touring, Inc. ("Very Good"), lawsuit against its insurer, Lloyd's of London ("Lloyd's"), for withholding almost $10 million in coverage after the cancellation of shows on West's "Life of Pablo" Tour. On Tuesday, August 29, 2017, Lloyd's responded by counterclaiming against Very Good and West, alleging that the loss was due to their failure to abide by policy conditions.

Hollywood is not off to a great start for the month of August. Kanye West's touring company, Very Good Touring, Inc. ("Very Good"), sued insurance company Lloyd's of London ("Lloyd's") on Tuesday in California federal court for withholding almost $10 million in coverage for the shows on West's "Life of Pablo" Tour that were canceled due to West's health condition. In Very Good Touring, Inc. v. Cathedral Syndicate, et al., No. 2:17-cv-05693 (C.D. Cal. filed Aug. 1, 2017), the touring company characterized Lloyd's delay in providing a coverage opinion as "emblematic of a broader modus operandi of the insurers of never-ending post-claim underwriting where the insurers hunt for some contrived excuse not to pay."

Last week, nearly 200,000 people were evacuated from areas downstream of the Oroville Dam in Northern California. Today, separate recommended and mandatory evacuation orders continue for roughly 50,000 San Jose residents due to rising flood waters along Coyote Creek. Between the Oroville Dam crisis and the torrential storms battering Northern California, California businesses face significant loss arising from the flooding, the threat of flooding, landslides and the like. Fortunately, some of the damage to property and businesses can be mitigated by insurance.