HNRK Coverage Corner

Today at the Coverage Corner, we look at a decision of the New York Appellate Division First Department on a D&O insurance coverage issue that is near and dear to my heart:  the treatment of “related claims,” in this case under a prior acts exclusion.  I have successfully litigated this issue in New York, written about it on this blog (see here, here, and here), and earlier this year moderated a panel at the ABA’s Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee meeting, entitled Déjà Sued:  Coverage Pitfalls and Possibilities for Related Claims Under Claims-Made Liability Policies.

In ...

This week at the Coverage Corner, we examine a Second Circuit decision that wades into hot-button topic:  liability coverage for environmental claims involving PFAS (colloquially known as “forever chemicals”).  In a summary ordered issued on May 4, 2026, in Town of Harrietstown v. Westchester Fire Ins. Co., Case No. 22-253-cv, the Second Circuit affirmed a decision from the Northern District of New York, granting summary judgment to the insured on its claim for defense costs.  We wrote about the district court’s decision in an article in Chambers’ 2026 Insurance & ...

On April 6, 2026, the Ninth Circuit issued a decision in Bramblett v. Allied World Specialty Ins. Co., Case No. 25-489, holding that Allied World acted in bad faith in denying a defense to its insured based on a Sexual Abuse Exclusion, where “a conceivable basis for coverage existed” as to at least some claims asserted in the compliant.

In Bramblett, the plaintiffs alleged they were the victims of sexual misconduct by an employee of the insured, including both verbal harassment and physical misconduct.  The insured’s policy expressly covered losses arising from claims alleging ...

The Washington Post reports: “Wildfires are ripping across the Great Plains, and other fare ups are popping up in Arizona and Colorado remarkably early this year.”  Experts predict that the “fire season ahead is a recipe for concern—perhaps signaling an expanding frontier for fire risk in broader patches of the western half of the United States.” 

Heading into what is anticipated to be a “brutal” wildfire season, utility companies and other businesses are increasingly exposed to liability for the resulting losses.  Liability insurance policies may provide coverage ...

Construction begets injuries, which beget lawsuits, which beget liability insurance claims, which frequently beget coverage disputes and litigation that raise a unique set of issues (see previous Coverage Corner posts on construction insurance issues here). Today at the Coverage Corner, we examine a recent Second Circuit decision that takes a deep dive into the canons of construction (think contra proferentem, the “rule of the last antecedent” and the “series qualifier canon”) to resolve a dispute over insurance coverage for a real-life construction injury claim ...