Gene Killian

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My old law partner Carl Salisbury is on the warpath against carriers’ efforts to escape construction defect coverage.  He has some interesting things to say about a recent pro-carrier South Carolina decision.  You can read Carl’s excellent blog post by clicking here.  (I promise not to call them “business risk” exclusions any more,

Here’s some advice I would give to anyone contemplating becoming a general contractor:  Don’t.   The liability insurance coverage picture is too muddy, and coverage for completed operations is too uncertain.  My secondary, and perhaps more realistic, advice: Review your subcontractors’ general liability coverage and make sure there’s adequate protection if you need to bring suit…

“For want of a shoe, the horse was lost,” goes the old saying.  If you handle claims from the policyholder side, nothing will aggravate you more than seeing a perfectly good claim go awry because of poor risk management controls in an organization, especially the failure to give notice under potentially applicable insurance policies.

The…

Lawyers and insurance companies are forever reserving their rights.  Sometimes I think it’s a reflex action against ever being forced to take an actual position.  But in the world of insurance coverage, “reservation of rights” letters do serve a function. Insurance companies fear that if they undertake the investigation or defense of a claim, for example…

A few months back, I got a call from the general counsel of a construction company.  His employer was the general contractor in a construction defect case, and he needed some advice with respect to the applicable “additional insured” coverage. “Now, you do know about this stuff, right?” he asked.  “I don’t want to have…

On May 20, 2014, I’ll be speaking at Perrin’s Emerging Insurance Coverage & Allocation Issues Conference at The Rittenhouse Hotel in Philadelphia, PA. My panel (shared with the inimitable Gary Kull of Carroll, McNulty & Kull, representing the insurance industry view of things), will focus on “Best Practices for Additional Insureds.” If you can …

My late Uncle Carmen was an accountant who worked for the IRS.  One tax season, I was grousing about how complicated the 1040 form could be. Uncle Carmen didn’t suffer fools gladly, and, with the veins bulging from his neck, insisted that NOTHING ON EARTH COULD BE SIMPLER.  My response was to engage in a…