Three Things To Know About Occurrence-Based Insurance

Peak hurricane season demands proactive preparation for flood insurance claims, particularly for businesses covered under the National Flood Insurance Program. Understanding policy requirements, documenting property conditions, and establishing claims procedures before disaster strikes can mean the difference between a successful claim and inadequate recovery.

The NAIC has spent four years overhauling capital requirements for life insurance companies' investments in collateralized loan obligations, introducing dramatic changes that will reshape how insurers allocate capital across their investment portfolios. These new rules, which account for credit spectrum positioning and tranche thickness for the first time, will force insurers to model significant impacts before year-end 2026 implementation.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals examined whether a directors' and officers' liability policy's contractual liability exclusion could bar coverage for an entire multi-count lawsuit, or whether each legally distinct cause of action—breach of contract, fraud, and quantum meruit—must be assessed separately against the exclusion's terms. The decision addresses the critical question of how insurers must apply policy exclusions when a single complaint pleads multiple claims arising from the same und

Skadden attorneys examine the unique legal considerations in insurance brokerage M&A transactions, exploring how deal structures must be carefully crafted to protect value in a people-driven business where client relationships and key personnel are paramount. The discussion covers earn-outs, reinvestment mechanics, restrictive covenants, and bespoke warranty packages tailored to the distinctive nature of brokerage deals.

A data breach exposes thousands of customer records. An employee falls for a phishing email and wires $200,000 to a fraudulent account. A vendor’s compromised software infects your network.

A U.S. District Court examined whether a commercial general liability insurer must defend and indemnify a trucking contractor after a municipality sought to recover costs for remediating unlawfully deposited demolition debris. The court analyzed whether the property damage constituted an "occurrence" under the policy's definition of an accident, considering the insured's intentional placement of the debris and applicable policy exclusions.

Your company paid premiums year after year, maintained payment controls, and worked to protect its systems and financial information. No CEO expects perfect security or expects every loss to be covered by insurance. But a company that buys coverage for computer fraud, funds-transfer fraud, and social engineering reasonably expects the policy to matter when criminals compromise company communications and divert a seven-figure payment.

Recent court decisions across multiple jurisdictions have created a complex landscape for determining when D&O insurance bump-up clauses apply to shareholder litigation settlements.

A U.S. District Court ruled that a commercial general liability insurer had no duty to defend its insureds against an abuse of process claim when the policy explicitly enumerated covered offenses including malicious prosecution but did not list abuse of process. The court determined that reasonable insureds would not expect coverage for unlisted offenses simply because they share legal similarities with enumerated ones.

Directors and officers insurance policies contain various exclusions that allow carriers to deny coverage when alternative coverage exists. Understanding these common and specialized exclusions is critical for insured entities and individuals to properly assess their risk exposure and coverage gaps.