I’ve been a trial lawyer for over 30 years, and I think I need to point out that corporate/transactional lawyers aren’t real lawyers. If you haven’t been on the receiving end of an evidence ruling that makes you wonder whether the judge attended law school in a Winnebago, then I’m sorry, you may be a
insolvency
Insurance insolvency and allocation-of-loss
By Gene Killian on
A few years back, we wrote about the New Jersey Supreme Court’s decision in Farmers Mutual Ins. Co. v. New Jersey Property-Liability Guarantee Assn. In Farmers, the Court held that, in the context of long-tail claims, any damages or defense costs allocated to insolvent policies could not be assigned to the policyholder.
When…
Insolvent Carriers and Allocation of Loss
By Gene Killian on
When I started in this business (yikes, a long time ago), we used to argue with insurance companies a lot about scintillating issues like whether environmental cleanup costs constituted “damages” under CGL policies, and whether “sudden” meant “abrupt” for purposes of the pollution exclusion. In fact, many coverage lawyers have sent their kids to college…
Assignment of insurance policies in bankruptcy
By Gene Killian on
Asbestos defendants who file for reorganization under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and seek to establish a personal injury trust for the payment of claims may transfer their liability insurance recovery rights to the trust even if the insurance policies include provisions barring the transfer of such rights, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third…
English & American Underwriting Agency Pools
By Gene Killian on
Got an e-mail from my friend John Denton at Marsh Risk Consulting about The English & American Underwriting Agency Pools (“EAU”) and their Scheme of Arrangement closure. Any historic London excess placements probably would have included one or more of the EAU companies as carriers. There are actions necessary to safeguard any outstanding claims, whether known or
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