HNRK Coverage Corner

On May 10, 2023, Judge Komitee of the EDNY issued a decision in Huang & Assocs., P.C. v. Hanover Ins. Co., Case No. 21-CV-4909(EK)(RER), holding that a law firm (Huang & Associates) was not entitled to coverage under its professional malpractice policy, for a negligence claim brought by a client whose funds were misappropriated by a third-party in a “real-estate transaction that went badly.”

The firm’s policy had an exclusion for any claim “[b]ased upon or arising out of, or relating directly or indirectly to . . . [a]ny actual or alleged conversion, commingling, defalcation ...

On May 1, 2023, the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, issued a decision in a closely-watched cyber insurance case, Merck & Co, Inc. v. ACE Am. Ins. Co., Appellate Division Docket No. A-1889-21, A-1882-21. (I spoke to Law360 about the case in January.)  Affirming the trial court’s ruling in favor of the policyholder, the appellate court held that an exclusion in an all-risk insurance property insurance policy for damages arising from “hostile or warlike action” by a “government  or sovereign power” did not apply to a cyberattack on a private company ...