Regulators At The Margis: The Impact Of Malpractice Insurers On Solo And Small Firm Lawyers, Leslie C. Levin
Nov 2016
Regulators At The Margis: The Impact Of Malpractice Insurers On Solo And Small Firm Lawyers, Leslie C. Levin
Leslie Levin
Liability insurers often informally regulate the behavior of their insureds through the underwriting process, premium pricing, contract design, and risk management practices. This Article explores whether lawyer professional liability (“LPL”) insurers effectively regulate the behavior of solo and small firm lawyers in ways that encourage responsible conduct. The Article draws on interviews of insurance industry executives, risk management counsel, and insured lawyers, as well as insurer documents and surveys of lawyers, to explore the impact of LPL insurers on the work lives of solo and small firm lawyers. The research reveals that LPL insurers appear to regulate the behavior of …
Sex, Videos, And Insurance: How Gawker Could Have Avoided Financial Responsibility For The $140 Million Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Verdict, Christopher French
May 2016
Sex, Videos, And Insurance: How Gawker Could Have Avoided Financial Responsibility For The $140 Million Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Verdict, Christopher French
Christopher C. French
On March 18, 2016, and March 22, 2016, a jury awarded Terry Bollea (a.k.a Hulk Hogan) a total of $140 million in compensatory and punitive damages against Gawker Media for posting less than two minutes of a video of Hulk Hogan having sex with his best friend’s wife. The award was based upon a finding that Gawker intentionally had invaded Hulk Hogan’s privacy by posting the video online. The case has been receiving extensive media coverage because it is a tawdry tale involving a celebrity, betrayal, adultery, sex, and the First Amendment. The case likely will be remembered by most …
The Insurability Of Claims For Restitution, Christopher French
May 2016
The Insurability Of Claims For Restitution, Christopher French
Christopher C. French
Does and should a wrongdoer’s liability insurance cover an aggrieved party’s claim for restitution (e.g., a claim for the disgorgement of ill-gotten gains)? This article answers those questions. It does so by first answering the question of whether claims for restitution are covered under the terms of liability insurance policies. Then, after concluding that they are, it addresses the question of whether claims for restitution should be insurable as a matter of public policy and insurance law theory. There are long-standing legal and equitable principles that, on the one hand, dictate that a wrongdoer should not be allowed to benefit …
The Insurability Of Claims For Restitution, Christopher French
May 2016
The Insurability Of Claims For Restitution, Christopher French
Christopher C. French
Does and should a wrongdoer’s liability insurance cover an aggrieved party’s claim for restitution (e.g., a claim for the disgorgement of ill-gotten gains)? This article answers those questions. It does so by first answering the question of whether claims for restitution are covered under the terms of liability insurance policies. Then, after concluding that they are, it addresses the question of whether claims for restitution should be insurable as a matter of public policy and insurance law theory. There are long-standing legal and equitable principles that, on the one hand, dictate that a wrongdoer should not be allowed to benefit …
Competition And Regulation In The Insurance Sector: Reassessing The Mccarran-Ferguson Act, Susan Beth Farmer
Mar 2016
Competition And Regulation In The Insurance Sector: Reassessing The Mccarran-Ferguson Act, Susan Beth Farmer
Susan Beth Farmer
This article was presented at a symposium entitled “Public and Private: Are the Boundaries in Transition?” sponsored by the American Antitrust Institute on June 24, 2010. It proposes a different paradigm, which more precisely describes regulation and competition in the insurance sector. This relationship is the shifting boundary between state and federal regulation instead of a boundary between the public and private sectors. The McCarran-Ferguson Act was adopted to protect firms acting in the business of insurance from federal antitrust scrutiny, but its language and impact goes far beyond federal competition law. So broad is the exemption that the modern …
A Battlefield Map For Nfl V. Insurance Industry Re: Concussion Liabilities, Christopher French
Dec 2015
A Battlefield Map For Nfl V. Insurance Industry Re: Concussion Liabilities, Christopher French
Christopher C. French
When the superstar athlete -“Iron Mike” Webster - a 9-time National Football League (NFL) Pro Bowler, 4-time Super Bowl Champion, Hall of Fame center for the Pittsburgh Steelers died at age 50 with severe brain dysfunction after becoming homeless and living in a truck, it was discovered he had a previously nameless disease, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). The discovery of CTE opened the floodgates on interest in delayed manifestation brain diseases caused by repeated blows to the head. As part of that flood, numerous class actions were brought by retired NFL football players against the NFL for their alleged …
Revisiting Construction Defects As “Occurrences” Under Cgl Insurance Policies, Christopher French
Dec 2015
Revisiting Construction Defects As “Occurrences” Under Cgl Insurance Policies, Christopher French
Christopher C. French
Imagine a situation in which a homeowner hires a contractor to redo a bathroom, for example, and the work is done incompetently such that the plumbing leaks and causes damage to other parts of the house. If the homeowner sues the contractor to recover the costs of repairing the faulty workmanship and the damage caused by the faulty workmanship, has there been an “occurrence” that is covered by the contractor’s Commercial General Liability (“CGL”) insurance policy? This article provides an answer to that question.
The issue of whether construction defects are occurrences under CGL insurance policies has been litigated frequently …
Insuring Landslides: America’S Uninsured Natural Catastrophes, Christopher French
Dec 2015
Insuring Landslides: America’S Uninsured Natural Catastrophes, Christopher French
Christopher C. French
Landslides occur in all fifty states and cause approximately $3.5 billion in property damage annually. Yet, in America, “all risk” homeowners and commercial property insurance policies exclude coverage for landslides, and there is only limited availability of expensive, stand-alone “named peril” insurance policies that cover landslide losses. Consequently, the affected homeowners are often left financially devastated—homeless with a mortgage to pay on an unsaleable piece of property.
This Article analyzes the problem of insuring landslide losses in America and proposes ways to help solve it. It describes both historical and recent landslide events. It discusses the insurance industry’s response to …
