Blogs

Hunton’s insurance coverage team recently secured an important appellate victory for clients St. John’s University and Hofstra University in a coverage dispute arising from United Educators Insurance Company’s (“UE”) categorical refusal to defend or indemnify the universities in student class action lawsuits filed after the universities transitioned to remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decision is significant both for colleges and universities facing pandemic-related tuition refund suits, and for policyholders more broadly. It reaffirms a core principle of insurance law: a liability insurer’s defense duties require a defense even where some of the claims or relief sought in the underlying lawsuit may not be covered. Rather, where the allegations create a reasonable possibility of covered loss, the insurer must defend the entire lawsuit.

University foundations currently face a more complicated set of demands than in prior years. Fundraising and stewardship remain central, but those responsibilities now sit alongside increased legal and regulatory attention, heightened expectations for governance, greater public scrutiny, and calls for closer alignment with institutional strategy and risk management.

For many foundations, the key issue is not one discrete challenge; it is the overlap of several. Changes in the regulatory environment may coincide with pressure on university budgets, questions about endowment spending, cybersecurity concerns, evolving donor expectations, or sensitive campus concerns and issues of national importance. That convergence makes it important for foundations to think more broadly about governance, preparedness, and coordination.

Retailers continue to deploy AI throughout their enterprises, with particular emphasis on enhancing operational productivity. One area where AI can improve operational efficiency is predictive inventory and logistics planning. Yet the technology is not without risk, and businesses should understand both the challenges associated with deploying AI and the ways they can mitigate supply chain and logistics disruptions through insurance and other forms of risk transfer when the technology fails to perform.

As of June 19, 2026, organizations subject to UK data protection law are required comply with new requirements regarding data protection complaints.

On June 18, 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order granting a certificate of public convenience and necessity to Eastern Gas Transmission and Storage, Inc. to add 550,000 dekatherms per day of firm transportation service on its system in Pennsylvania and Ohio through the “Appalachian Reliability Project.” In the Certificate Order, the Commission took the position that the National Environmental Policy Act does not require a discrete cumulative effects analysis.