Insurance Company’s Privilege Claims Fall Victim To Crime-Fraud Exception In Colorado Federal Court
Posted on Jun 26, 2015
Earlier this month, a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, relying on the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege, significantly curtailed an insurance company’s claims of privilege. While working in the course and scope of his employment, Person A was killed in a vehicle accident by a car driven by Person B. Person A’s estate brought a wrongful death action against Person B that settled for $100,000, the limits of Person B’s insurance policy. While the wrongful death suit was pending, Person A’s estate also made a demand on Person A’s...
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Most Claims Against Manufacturer Of Chemical Leaked Into West Virginia Water Supply To Proceed
Posted on Jun 19, 2015
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia determined earlier this month that the bulk of private plaintiffs’ claims against the manufacturer of the chemical that leaked into the Elk River and contaminated the Charleston-area water supply could continue. The plaintiffs generally contended that the chemical manufacturer failed to warn of the dangers stemming from the chemical release, negligently characterized the risk of the chemical and its potential environmental and health consequences, and negligently sold the alleged hazardous chemical to a suspect...
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Texas High Court Clarifies Employers’ Duty To Warn Employees Of Open And Obvious Dangers
Posted on Jun 15, 2015
Last Friday, the Supreme Court of Texas clarified its premises liability doctrine in response to a certified question from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Subject to two narrow exceptions, the court held that employers do not have a duty to warn or protect their employees from dangerous premises conditions that are “open and obvious” or “known” to the employee. The case arose out of an employee’s slip and fall while cleaning up a spill on his employer’s premises in the course of his employment. Because the employer had opted out of Texas’s workers’ compensation system, the...
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Workers’ Case Alleging Harms By Government Contractor From Coal Ash Clean-up Still Alive
Posted on Jun 6, 2015
Earlier this week, the Sixth Circuit joined an existing circuit split when holding that a government contractor’s immunity as a corollary of the discretionary-function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Yearsley v. W.A. Ross Construction Co., 309 U.S. 18 (1940)), is not jurisdictional. In the case, following a coal ash spill at a coal-fired plant generating electricity in Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority entered into a contract with a contractor to provide planning, management, and oversight of the clean-up...
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Excess Insurer Not Allowed To Introduce Asbestos Exclusion In Upcoming Trial In Pennsylvania
Posted on Jun 2, 2015
In a lingering dispute related to the insurance available to a manufacturer of asbestos-containing products, the last non-settling excess insurer sought to preclude the manufacturer from presenting “any evidence of damages at trial.” That insurer, Insurer A, contended that the manufacturer cannot prove any insured damages because Insurer A’s policies incorporate an asbestos exclusion contained in an umbrella liability policy that Insurer B sold to the manufacturer. Insurer A’s policy, however, does not contain or attach the exclusion and does not mention Insurer...
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Federal Court Enjoins Manufacturing Plant From Retaliating Against OSHA Complainants
Posted on May 29, 2015
An employee working on a production line of a plant that makes foam cushions used in car seats and head rests raised concerns about exposure to the chemical toluene diisocyanate (“TDI”). In May 2014, the employee was one of ten plant employees to provide management with a signed letter regarding TDI leaks at the plant and health concerns. The plant promptly hired an independent group to test the air in the plant for TDI and OSHA conducted its own testing as well. All of the tests showed that TDI levels were within permissible exposure levels. In November 2014, OSHA issued...
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Pennsylvania High Court Considers Scope Of Employer’s Liability Exclusion In Umbrella Commercial Liability Policy
Posted on May 27, 2015
Following a workplace injury, a worker brought suit against the owner of the premises who leased the property to the worker’s employer. The employer maintained an umbrella commercial liability insurance policy containing an employer’s liability exclusion. The policy did not cover liabilities for injury to “An ’employee’ of the insured arising out of and in the course of … Employment by the insured.” The policy also contained a Separation of Insureds provision stating that “this insurance applies … Separately to each insured against...
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