Duty to Defend
Hyundai Motor America vs. National Union Fire Insurance Company
Year: 2008
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit
Case Number: 08-56527
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • California

The district court erroneously held that “advertising injury” insured under the CGL Policies at issue did not include “an injury caused by patent infringement even if that injury occurs during the course of an advertising activity.” The district court also failed to properly apply the…
Padilla Construction Company, Inc., v. Transportation Insurance Company
Year: 2006
Court: California Court of Appeal, 4th District, Division 3
Case Number: G036451
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • California

Request for modification of previous decision. The CGL policies at issue potentially cover all damages because of the property damage alleged in the Padilla lawsuit, including property damage that may have occurred prior to inception of the Stage 4 Primary Insurer’s policies. Therefore, the Padilla…
Peerless Lighting Company v. American Motorists Ins. Co.
Year: 1999
Court: California Court of Appeal, 1st District
Case Number: AO 82975, AO83487, AO84373
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • California

Request to Grant Petition for Review. Duty to Defend Case. UP supported the position that the duty to defend attaches as soon as there is a possibility that the allegations of the complaint fall within the coverage of the policy.
Penzer, Michael, etc. vs. Transportation Insurance Company
Year: 2007
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Case Number: SC08-2068, Lower Court Case No.: 07-13827-FF
Issue:
  • Advertising Injury
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • Florida

Insurance companies have a duty to defend violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) under a CGL policy’s “advertising injury” clause even when the facsimile transmission does not disseminate private information. Despite the absence of private information, an unsolicited facsimile arguably can still constitute…
Quan vs. Truck Exchange
Year: 1998
Court: California Court of Appeal
Case Number: 5071510
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • California

Amicus in support of request for review. Duty to Defend.
Rocky Cola Café vs. Golden Eagle
Year: 2002
Court: California Supreme Court
Case Number: S117935
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • California

There is no authority for an insurer who provides a litigation defense to seek TOTAL reimbursement of all funds on grounds that it never had a duty to defend in the first place.
Safeco Insurance Company vs. Parks
Year: 2007
Court: California Court of Appeal, 2nd District
Case Number: B199364 (consolidated with B200267)
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • California

Disclosure Requirement—Under 10 Cal. Code Regs. Section 2695.4(a) mandates that when a claim is made to the insurer, the insurer must “disclose . . . all benefits, coverage, time limits or other provisions of any insurance policy issued by that insurer that may apply to…
St. Joe Minerals Corporation vs. Zurich Insurance
Year: 1998
Court: Fourth Appellate District, California
Case Number: 697526
Issue:
  • Clean up costs as damages
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • California
Watts Industries, Inc. vs. Zurich American Insurance Company
Year: 2003
Court: California Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 4
Case Number: B162067 (LASC Case No. 245144 consolidated with Case No. BC 251718)
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • California

Insurer must offer a defense if there is a potential for coverage of any part of underlying claim.
American and Foreign Insurance Company et. al. vs. Jerry’s Sport Center, Inc. et. al.
Year: 2007
Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Case Number: 88 MAP 2008
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • Pennsylvania

A claim is potentially covered, thus triggering the duty to defend, when there is uncertainty as to coverage. Once this uncertainty is eliminated through a declaratory judgment action it does not retroactively eliminate the ambiguity that triggered the insurer’s duty to defend during the period…
Arceneaux, et al. v. Amstar Corp., et al.
Year: 2010
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Case Number: No. 2010-c-2329
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • Louisiana

May an insurer enforce the coverage limiting provisions of its insurance policies that it breached upon breaching its respective duties to defend and indemnify?
Charles Mitchell Hart and Lisa Marie Hart v. TICOR Title Insurance Company
Year: 2011
Court: Hawaii Supreme Court
Case Number: SCWC-29467
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
  • Title Insurance
State:
  • Hawaii

The policyholders’ land was insured under a title insurance policy they’d bought from TICOR. When the State of Hawaii filed a suit against them related to the land, they turned to TICOR for a defense, but it denied their claim. In an amicus brief drafted…
K2 Investment Group et al. v. American Guarantee and Liability Insurance Company
Year: 2013
Court: New York Court of Appeals
Case Number: APL-2012-00055/117902/09
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • New York

UP argued that an insurer’s “duty to defend” is its most basic responsibility under the insurance contact and a failure to do is tantamount to a material breach of contract. As such, the imposition of the Lang rule, which requires insurers in the state of…
Hartford v. Swift
Year: 2013
Court: California Supreme Court
Case Number: S207172
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • California

UP urged the California Supreme Court to follow the clear precedent that an insurer’s “duty to defend” extends to both direct and indirect, express and implied, disparagement claims. UP urged the Court to overturn a holding by the Court of Appeal that was inconsistent with…
Tidyman’s Management Services v. Davis et al.
Year: 2013
Court: Montana Supreme Court
Case Number: DA 12-0228
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • Montana

Under Montana law, if a carrier refuses to defend under a reservation of rights, it does so at its own peril and is liable for all damages resulting from an unjustified breach of the duty to defend. UP argued in it’s brief that when a…
Auto Flat Car Crushers, Inc. v. Hanover Ins. Co.
Year: 2014
Court: Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
Case Number: 11477
Issue:
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • Massachusetts

When an insured files suit against an insurer for unfair or deceptive practices (under Massachusetts’ Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act) and the insurer answers and tenders unilateral payments, the insured may still maintain a cause of action for multiple damages. UP argued in its brief…
Recall Total Information Management Inc., et al. v. Federal Insurance Co.
Year: 2014
Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
Case Number: S.C. 19291
Issue:
  • Advertising Injury
  • Data Breaches
  • Duty to Defend
  • Reasonable Expectations
State:
  • Connecticut

Under Commercial General Liability policies (“CGL”) and Umbrella policies, “publication” of usually defamatory statements to a third person will trigger coverage for “advertising injury” and a carrier’s duty to defend. Here, the Court of Appeal erroneously found that loading confidential personal employee data onto encrypted…
Street Surfing, LLC v. Great American E&S Ins. Co.
Year: 2014
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit
Case Number: 12-5531
Issue:
  • Commercial General Liability
  • Duty to Defend
State:
  • California

Under California law, the duty to defend is broader than the duty to indemnify. In fact, under Montrose Chem. Corp. v. Superior Court, 6 Cal. 4th 287, 300 (1993), “the insured must prove the existence of a potential for coverage, while the insurer must establish…