In the 2008 film Wall-E, Earth is a post-apocalyptic wasteland with nothing on it but the abandoned remnants of human society, and a forlorn, trash-compacting robot. The robot’s only living company is a pet cockroach named Hal, which I guess is Pixar’s nod to the popular notion that cockroaches will outlive us all. (Or
business interruption
Measuring the proper amount of business interruption loss
By Gene Killian on
Posted in Business Interruption, Property insurance
Earlier this month, I woke up to the sound of sirens and the smell of smoke. My neighbors and friends from around the block suffered a catastrophic fire, and lost their home and all of their belongings, escaping with literally the shirts on their back (and their dogs). Fortunately, no one was injured, but now…
“Ordinance or Law” Coverage for Costs of Repair
I was saddened to learn that Judge Ruggero Aldisert, formerly of the Third Circuit, recently passed away. I never had the privilege of appearing before Judge Aldisert, and I never met the man, but I feel indebted to him for writing two excellent books that were published through NITA: “Logic for Lawyers” and “Winning on…
Calculating Business Interruption Damages
By Gene Killian on
When I was in college, there was an English professor named Frank Kinahan, who taught a class called “The Little Red Schoolhouse.” A lot of my fellow students (not me, of course!) apparently thought that if they could just write their papers in enough of an arcane and convoluted manner, people (including their professors) would…
How to prove a business interruption loss
By Gene Killian on
I once heard a veteran of the complex commercial litigation wars describe the process as follows. “Each side hires an expert,” he said, “and the preponderance of perjury prevails.”
A cynical – if funny and unfortunately too-often-accurate – view. Recognizing that expert witnesses are, in essence, paid advocates, the Supreme Court formulated the Daubert and…
Insurance claims and Superstorm Sandy
By Gene Killian on
I recently got interviewed by Ed Beeson of the Newark Star-Ledger as part of his article about the looming Superstorm Sandy insurance coverage litigation. The insurance industry has definitely circled the wagons, and the first suits are now being filed. There will be a lot of battles over causation (e.g., wind versus flood), as well…
Business interruption insurance and Hurricane Sandy
By Gene Killian on
Posted in Business Interruption, Property insurance
When Hurricane Sandy struck New Jersey last week, one of my out-of-state lawyer friends, employing the sort of dark humor that perhaps only other lawyers can appreciate, congratulated me on my “happy positioning in the world’s greatest business interruption insurance goldmine.” I told him that, unfortunately, this time I might be a plaintiff instead of…
More on Business Interruption Insurance
By Gene Killian on
Posted in Bad Faith, Business Interruption
In the last post, we took a look at the Dictiomatic case, in which the policyholder took a beating for overreaching on a business interruption claim. Turnabout being fair play, let’s now have a look at a recent case in which the insurance company got thumped in the business interruption arena. The case is Amerigraphics…
Business Interruption Insurance
By Gene Killian on
Posted in Business Interruption, Evidence
I’m getting ready to speak at an ABA-TIPS conference on the topic of business interruption insurance. Given the number of horrible tragedies we’ve been through in the past decade (prayers for all those affected by the earthquake in Japan), it’s certainly a timely subject.
To cut to the chase: Business interruption insurance is designed to…