Insurance
Proof that New York’s Labor Law is Broken
May 12th, 2023
Project owners, contractors, subcontractors and insurers would all agree – the New York Labor Law is an unreasonable transfer of safety risk away from those who are most responsible for safety. Only the plaintiffs’ bar would disagree. We now have…
Read More
Read More
Insurance Policy Did Not Cover Preemptive Measures to Avoid a Larger, Covered Loss
February 23rd, 2023
This is a non-construction case that will impact construction parties. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has held that costs incurred by an insured in order to prevent greater losses are not covered by insurance, even though the greater losses…
Read More
Read More
The Illusion of Coverage Under a Builder’s Risk Policy
August 12th, 2020
The policy didn’t exactly say “all damages are covered unless caused by a peril that is excluded” and “all damages are excluded unless caused by a peril that is covered ” But that description isn’t very far off. And a contractor’s actio…
Read More
Read More
Separation of Insured Clause Strikes Again to Deny Coverage
July 22nd, 2020
A very recent blog discussed the effect of a separation of insured clause, on the scope of general liability coverage for an additional insured, when a personal injury claim is pursued by an injured worker. A federal court judge has just reached the…
Read More
Read More
Insurance Exclusion Negates Additional Insured Coverage
July 8th, 2020
So you think your additional insured status as a GC provides protection against claims by your sub’s injured workers? Think again. General contractors commonly require subs to include the GC as an additional insured party on the sub’s general lia…
Read More
Read More
Owner’s Property Insurer Could Pursue GC and Sub for Repayment
June 2nd, 2020
A waiver of subrogation clause is common in construction contracts, relative to property or builder’s risk insurance. It is not just a risk allocation tool, but an insurance risk allocation tool. When there is no waiver of subrogation, does other l…
Read More
Read More
One-Year Limitations Period Enforceable for Insurance Policy Claims
December 19th, 2019
In what may seem to many as a harsh decision, the New Hampshire Supreme Court has upheld a one-year limitations period in an insurance policy. The insurance carrier and insured homeowners were in contact soon after the loss. The carrier did some inve…
Read More
Read More
Duty to Defend Enforceable Even if Duty to Indemnify is Unresolved
December 6th, 2019
A Connecticut court, applying plain language in a subcontract, has held that the sub must defend the general contractor in an injured worker lawsuit, even if the sub’s obligation to indemnify the GC is not yet established. The worker was employed b…
Read More
Read More
Failure to Promptly Reserve Rights on Coverage = Loss of Ability to Disclaim
October 2nd, 2018
From the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal comes a reminder that undertaking defense of a claim without any reservation of rights can bar an insurer from disclaiming coverage nine months later – even if the claim was not within the policy language from t…
Read More
Read More
Rental Agreement Indemnity – A Setback for Rental Companies
April 27th, 2018
Readers of this blog know that the terms and conditions in equipment rental agreements favor the rental company. Those agreements typically have one-sided indemnity clauses, on the basis that the rental company expects the renting contractor to carry…
Read More
Read More