SDV Insights

With the rise in popularity of obstacle course racing, millions have participated in races like Spartan Race, Rugged Maniac, Tough Mudder and Warrior Dash in the last ten years.

In early September, California, again, proved itself to be a pro-policyholder state, in a recent court of appeal decision. The court of appeal stated that manuscript additional insured endorsement language which provided coverage, "but only with respect to liability arising out of 'your work' and only as respects ongoing operations..." and "but only with respect to liability arising out of 'your work' which is ongoing...", did not unambiguously foreclose coverage for completed operations.

On September 28, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rendered an opinion adopting a two-part test for proving a claim under Pennsylvania's bad faith statute. To prevail on a statutory bad faith claim, "the plaintiff must present clear and convincing evidence (1) that the insurer did not have a reasonable basis for denying benefits under the policy and (2) that the insurer knew of or recklessly disregarded its lack of a reasonable basis."

The Connecticut Appellate Court recently held that a single "per-person" auto policy limit of insurance applied to a spouse's loss of consortium claim because it was not truly independent from the related bodily injury claim.

While schoolchildren know that the classic "the dog ate my homework" excuse doesn't work, insurance companies are willing to try a variation of that excuse. Ace American Insurance Company (Ace), sold a property policy (the Policy) to Exide Technologies, Inc. (Exide). Exide sought coverage under the Policy for acid damage at its former battery factory. Ace denied coverage, citing to the pollution exclusion. The only problem? The Policy contained no pollution exclusion!

The Second Circuit recently affirmed that an insured bears the burden of distinguishing between covered and uncovered damages in a claim against an insurance company.

If you have a commercial general liability policy that is subject to South Dakota law, damages resulting from faulty workmanship constitute an “occurrence” ...

The United States Tax Court recently made it harder for business owners to form captive insurance companies for the sole purpose of obtaining tax benefits.

As Hurricane Harvey leaves its destructive mark on Texas, policyholders are left to pick up the pieces. Coincidentally, a new Texas law scheduled to take effect on September 1 could limit your insurance recovery.

Hurricane Harvey will test many risk managers' insurance programs and response plans as it's been over 10 years since a major hurricane made landfall in the U.S.