HNRK Coverage Corner

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 & ...

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 ...

A recent decision from the U.S. District Court of Western District of Washington  touches on a number of important insurance coverage issues:  policy reformation, the effect of an insured’s late notice of a claim, and the insurer’s burden to prove applicability of a policy exclusion. In General Casualty Company of Wisconsin v. Reed Hein & Assoc. LLC et al., the court’s consideration of these issues resulted in opposite outcomes for two insurers. While the insured’s CGL carrier (General Casualty) successfully avoided a duty to defend, the D&O insurer (RSUI) was found to have ...

Today at the Coverage Corner, we examine a Fifth Circuit decision that ponders a fundamental question: What is a “suit”? A complaint filed in court or arbitration demand seeking money damages should qualify. But what about a pre-lawsuit ADR procedure? Like all questions of policy interpretation, the answer lies in the policy language, construed in accordance with the established rules of policy interpretation (including, for example, the canon that ambiguities are construed “in favor of the insured”).

At issue in BPX Prod. Co. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s ...