How does one resolve a dispute involving thousands of individual items where it is impractical to deal separately with each one? A recent decision in the Technology and Construction Court provides some guidance - but raises further questions. The case is Standard Life Assurance Limited v Gleeds (UK)(a firm) and Others (December 2020, TCC). Standard Life had engaged Costain as its main contractor for the development of a large residential and retail development in Berkshire ...
The Unemployment Insurance Fund (“UIF”) has shed some light on what will happen to existing and outstanding COVID-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (“TERS”) applications and payments, particularly over the festive season. We discuss the must-knows for employers below ...
When the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic became apparent in March 2020, an avalanche of articles appeared in which many insurers took the position that there was no coverage for losses associated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus due either to a lack of physical loss or damage to property necessary to trigger coverage under most commercial property policies, or to the effect of virus exclusions found in many such policies ...
Happy New Year! Not surprisingly, the Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog’s top ten most read posts of 2020 are dominated by COVID-19 business interruption insurance issues, as these disputes monopolized media headlines throughout the year. While 2021 shows promise for gaining control over the disease, the resulting insurance disputes are certain to remain center stage and our team will continue to report on material developments involving COVID-19 and other insurance coverage issues ...
It behooves construction professionals, be they materials manufacturers, general contractors, or lower-tier subcontractors, to carry some form of commercial general liability insurance (“CGL Insurance”). Having such coverage alleviates some of the potential risk and financial exposure a construction professional carries on a particular project. That is, of course, unless the construction professional gets sued and the insurer refuses to pay ...
On 24 September 2020, Statistics Indonesia (Badan Pusat Statistik ─ “BPS”) issued BPS Regulation No. 2 of 2020 on Indonesian Standard Business Classifications (Klasifikasi Baku Lapangan Usaha Indonesia ─ “KBLI”), which is known as the 2020 KBLI. The 2020 KBLI came into force on its issuance date and revoked BPS Regulation No. 95 of 2015 on the KBLIs, as amended by BPS Regulation No. 19 of 2017, which is known as the 2017 KBLI ...
On December 10, 2020, the Minister of Finance, Éric Girard, introduced and tabled Bill 82 entitled An Act respecting mainly the implementation of certain provisions of the Budget Speech of 10 March 2020 (hereinafter the " Bill" ) before the National Assembly. The Bill opens the door to possible limitations on the duty to defend with respect to certain categories of liability insurance contracts to be determined by regulation ...
All eyes were on health care in 2020, as the industry faced unprecedented challenges presented by the global coronavirus pandemic. Stories and images of overburdened frontline health care workers dominated the news cycle for most of the year, and the rapid development of one or more seemingly effective vaccines has engendered a cautious optimism for a return to normalcy in 2021 ...
This Client Alert is a monthly update on insurance recovery developments as posted on the Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog. If you would like to receive email alerts when new posts are published, please visit our blog and enter your email address in the subscribe field ...
A minority of states have enacted statutes and taken other action to protect business owners from claims by persons who allegedly were infected by COVID-19 on their premises.1 The purpose of this article is to compare these statutes and discuss some of the differences between them. This article addresses statutes in effect as of October 27, 2020. The article does not address pending legislation ...
The Russian insurance market is facing fundamental changes that will reshape the industry, by creating new opportunities for foreign insurance companies to operate in Russia. Within the framework of its obligations as a WTO member state, Russia must allow access of branches of foreign insurers, from WTO countries, to the Russian insurance market, by August 2021 ...
The top three most read articles for the month were: Policyholders Pump Out Another COVID-19 Litigation VictoryA Pennsylvania trial court denied an insurer’s early attempt to lunge out of coverage for COVID-19 business interruption losses suffered by a fitness center, stating it would be premature for the court to resolve factual determinations the insurer raised in its demurrer. Ridley Park Fitness, LLC v. Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Co., No ...
A North Carolina court has required Cincinnati Insurance Company to provide business interruption and extra expense coverage to 16 North Carolina restaurants that lost the use of and access to their properties due to COVID-19 civil authority orders (see North State Deli, LLC, et al. v. Cincinnati Insurance Co. et al.) ...
This 28th edition of Unprecedented, our weekly update on COVID-19-related litigation, includes a number of updates on the mounting number of business interruption coverage disputes -- including a claim against a broker whose alleged failure to obtain infectious disease coverage left the insured without coverage for COVID-19-induced losses ...
So, you want to start a hemp company in Alabama. You have your big idea and a business plan ready, but you begin to wonder whether you should be thinking about any legal issues as you get your company off the ground. That’s where we come in. Bradley’s Cannabis Industry team has a deep understanding of the many unique legal and business issues that impact hemp companies in Alabama and beyond ...
When a company is faced with defending itself against a large claim, it often requires the availability of insurance proceeds from not just the company’s primary insurer, but also from its excess insurance layers. In this scenario, however, excess insurers sometimes will refuse to step in after exhaustion of the underlying insurance layers, arguing that the exhaustion of those underlying layers was wrongful due to payments for uncovered claims ...
The Insurance Commission (“IC”) of the Philippines has issued a circular letter dated June 14, 2020 on the adoption of a regulatory sandbox framework for the experimentation and testing of insurance technology innovations (IC Circular Letter No. 2020-73 (“ICL 2020-73”): “Guidelines on the Adoption of a Regulatory Sandbox Framework for Insurance Technology (InsurTech) Innovations).” The full text of Circular Letter No ...
The economic downturn engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic likely will lead to a significant increase in acquisitions of distressed targets. Representation and warranty (“R&W”) insurance policies as well as related insurance products can facilitate these transactions ...
So, you want to start a hemp company. You have your big idea and a business plan ready. At some point, though, you begin to wonder whether you should be thinking about any legal issues as you get your company off the ground. That’s where we come in. Bradley’s Cannabis Industry team has a deep understanding of the many unique legal and business issues that impact hemp companies ...
In what appears to be the first substantive dispositive ruling on a COVID-19 related business interruption insurance claim, a Michigan court has dismissed an insured’s business interruption claim, finding that the insured did not suffer a direct physical loss and no insurance coverage exists for the insured’s claim ...
On June 16, 2020, Governor Mike DeWine signed into law House Bill 81. Its impact is significant for employers in the context of workers’ compensation. Governor DeWine touted the amendment that provided workers’ compensation coverage for medical diagnostic services to investigate whether a detention facility employee’s exposure to another’s blood or bodily fluids resulted in an injury or occupational disease ...
Thousands of denied claims and hundreds of lawsuits pending around the country are testament to the fact that business interruption coverage for losses sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic depends on the existence of “physical loss or damage ...
To the average person, what constitutes an “accident” is likely clear. If someone trips and falls—in most instances, it would be considered an accident. If someone bumps her head getting out of a car—it’s probably just an accident. And if someone were to drop something heavy onto his foot—it would likely be deemed a careless accident ...
We are seeing an increase in the use of warranty and indemnity insurance (W&I) on transactions, which is a theme we expect to continue as buyers target companies that are in financial distress in the wake of Covid-19. W&I has become commonplace in the UK M&A market as a way to ‘bridge the gap’ between buyer and seller when allocating risk ...
