While it’s our goal year-round to make you, IndyBar members, more profitable and productive in your practice, we’re taking extra care during the month of September to show you how much we appreciate you!

A group of insurers indirectly owned by Chubb INA Holdings, Inc. was found liable to Ramaco Resources, LLC for denial of coverage for damage to a coal silo. The jury award was divided into $7,653,057 in compensatory damages and $25,000,000 to compensate the insured for “inconvenience and aggravation.” The insurers had denied coverage based on exclusions in the relevant policies for rust and wear and tear to property.

An IndyBarHQ utilization task force has been organized, featuring a diverse group of members, to direct our new HQ’s evolution with intention and creativity. The ideas already are simmering vigorously, but we need your help to bring them to a full boil.

On July 2, 2021, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Oral Surgeons, P.C. v. Cincinnati Ins. Co., becoming the first federal appellate court to rule on a COVID-19 case regarding a claim for business interruption coverage. The court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the insured’s claims for breach of contract and bad faith.

G&G Oil Company of Indiana purchased a “Commercial Crime Coverage” policy from Continental Western Insurance Company. The policy included a “Computer Fraud” provision, which covered losses “resulting directly from the use of any computer to fraudulently cause a transfer of money.”

While policyholders and insurance companies continue to litigate the question of whether policies in effect during the pandemic provided business interruption coverage for business closures and income losses caused by COVID-19 and the resulting shutdowns, New Jersey is in the process of passing a law that would encourage insurers to issue endorsements that would expressly provide such coverage in the future.

A New Hampshire court granted partial summary judgment to plaintiffs, owners of 23 hotels in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New Jersey, holding that business interruption losses are covered under policies requiring “direct physical loss or damage.”

A Georgia jury returned a $17.5 million punitive damages award against pharmaceutical manufacturer Akorn Inc. regarding “grandfathered” drug methylene blue (not regulated by the FDA) that was known to interact poorly with serotonergic psychiatric medications. Akorn declined to add a warning label to the medication. This caused a patient to be placed into a medically induced coma for 18 days and caused permanent impairment after a severe interaction with another drug, which interaction was unknown to the treating surgeon.

Meet members of the Insurance Coverage Section with the Take Ten Q&A Series!

Apparently, Crocs are suddenly cool again, but be sure not to wear them on a shrimp boat. The captain of a Louisiana trawling vessel saw his suit for damages after slipping and falling on the deck of the Dusty Dawn dismissed because he was wearing Crocs at the time of his injury. The court held the plaintiff was 100 percent at fault for his own injury because slip-resistant shoes were required on the ship’s deck, and his Crocs were not slip-resistant.