There is a neat little ERISA decision just out from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. In the case of James McDonald et al. v. Pension Plan of the NYSA-ILA Pension Trust Fund, et al., http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/ decided on Tuesday, the court addressed the question of determining an appropriate fee award under ERISA for a
What if Both the Insurer and the Insured Cause a Misrepresentation in an Insurance Application?
This is fun – what happens if insurance coverage is based on misrepresentations in an application, but the misrepresentations were due to both mistakes by the insurer and oversights by the insured? The general rule, with variations among jurisdictions as to certain specifics, is that coverage is void if obtained based on misrepresentations in an
Professional Liability Coverage for Medical Billing Errors
There is an interesting story out of Massachusetts concerning a $1.9 million settlement entered into by a physician related to allegedly fraudulent medical billing; the article is at http://www.masslawyersweekly.com/ (subscription required for the full article). In fairness and to be accurate, note that the physician denies the charges and has stated that the real problem
A Reasonable But Erroneous Coverage Determination is Not Bad Faith
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reinvigorated, yet at the same time may have narrowed, a key rule governing insurer bad faith claims in this state in its decision this month in City Fuel Corp. vs. National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, SJC-09623 (May 10, 2006), available here http://www.masslawyersweekly.com/signup/opinion.cfm?page=ma/opin/sup/1007806.htm.
In the Commonwealth, bad faith
Pollution Exclusions and the Reasonable Expectations Doctrine
There is an interesting decision out of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court concerning the application of a policy endorsement and its mirror image exclusion to coverage of an oil leak from an oil delivery truck. The spill occurred while the truck was parked overnight, in between two separate days of delivering oil. The Supreme Judicial
Coverage for Copyright Infringement and Why You Should Buy It
In a recent posting I discussed the value to insureds of purchasing an endorsement adding advertising injury coverage to their commercial liability policies when they acquire or renew them because it can grant coverage of at least defense costs in some intellectual property cases, at a minimum copyright infringement claims; this is discussed at https://www.bostonerisalaw.com/archives/cat-advertising-injury.html
The Hidden Law of ERISA: An Introduction
I don’t always understand the thinking of the federal courts with regard to selecting opinions to publish and those not to publish. Certainly, I understand the criteria they seek to apply, but sometimes the end result is curious. The federal district court for Massachusetts recently chose not to publish a summary judgment opinion in the
An Interesting New ERISA Decision
Judge Woodlock of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts has issued a comprehensive 42 page summary judgment opinion concerning a challenge to the denial of benefits under an ERISA governed plan. The opinion, Kansky v. Aetna Life Insurance Company and Coca-Cola Enterprises, available on the court’s website at http://pacer.mad.uscourts.gov/dc/cgi-bin/recentops.pl?filename=woodlock/pdf/kansky%20may%201%202006.pdf,
More on Who Should Pay for the Defense of Corporate Officers and Directors
Looks like I was not the only one intriqued by the article earlier in the week in the New York Times about companies who stop paying the legal bills of their officers, directors or employees, and the effect it has on the affected individuals. The wired gc talks about it here http://www.wiredgc.com/2006/04/17/corporate-legal-defense-fees-and-cooperation/.
This is
Insuring and Litigating Design Disputes
What does design, and more particularly the rise of design in modern industrial China, have to do with ERISA and insurance? Little, something and nothing.
A little, because business liability policies often contain advertising injury coverage, which can provide coverage for copyright infringement claims in certain circumstances. You can read my very out of date