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After years of litigation and a week-long bench trial in Essex County Superior Court, Coughlin Midlige & Garland LLP (“CMG”) attorneys Gabe Darwick and James Layman obtained a declaration of no coverage under three umbrella liability insurance policies issued by CMG’s client (the “Umbrella Insurer”) to a condominium association.

On January 18, 2022, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law the New Jersey Insurance Fair Conduct Act (the “Act”), effective as of that date. The Act represents a significant change in the law governing the conduct of automobile insurers in New Jersey. 

Factors to Consider Before and While Litigating Coverage Issues

The Second Department has parted ways with other New York courts that have permitted insurers to recoup defense costs

We are in uncharted legal waters when dealing with the ramifications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the relationship between employees and employers.  

In response to the concerns raised by parties about their inability to meet regulatory and mandatory timeframes for completing remedial investigations and cleanup actions due to COVID-19, NJDEP has provided some limited and temporary relief.

The Covid-19 virus is affecting almost every business and every aspect of life.  State governments across the United States are mandating business closures and shelter-in-place policies.

The United States is facing a disease outbreak that is unprecedented in the modern world.  The spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has impacted all facets of daily life. 

A troubling trend has begun to develop in the New York additional insured coverage litigation arena on the issue of priority of coverage. Disclaiming insurers who potentially owe additional insurance coverage, when confronted with a summary judgment motion, or even at earlier stages, have argued that until they have all available policies that may provide coverage, they cannot confirm their duty to defend.

On Wednesday, November 13, 2019, a three-judge panel for the New Jersey Appellate Division affirmed a Middlesex County State Court’s decision granting municipal courts jurisdiction to enforce civil penalties under the Spill Compensation and Control Act, (“the Spill Act”) pursuant to the Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999 (“PEL”). 

On Friday, October 25, 2019, State Attorney General Grubir S. Grewal (“Grewal”) and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“NJDEP”) Commissioner Catherine R. McCabe (“McCabe”) announced the filing of six lawsuits against companies and individuals who allegedly polluted sites in Trenton, Kearny, Camden, East Orange, and Newark.

On October 4, 2019, the Connecticut Supreme Court affirmed the Appellate Courts’ decision in R.T. Vanderbilt Company, Inc. v. Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, 171 Conn. App. 61 (2017), adopting the “continuous trigger” and the “unavailability exception” to pro-rata allocation for asbestos bodily injury claims.

On September 13, 2019, the U.S. Third Circuit (“Third Circuit”) partially overturned a decision from the U.S. District Court (“District Court”) in favor of the insurers that an aluminum products manufacturer was not entitled to coverage for claims arising from its production of faulty window components.

New Jersey has now adopted what looks to be the most comprehensive wage theft law in the entire country.

In Comcast of Garden State, LP v. The Hanover Ins. Co., Docket No. A-3425-17T4, an unpublished decision decided on July 10, 2019, the New Jersey Appellate Division held that a putative additional insured found partially liable in an underlying personal injury action was an additional insured, but “only with respect to” the insured-contractor’s work, and, therefore, was not entitled to coverage for its own negligent conduct.

The New Jersey Appellate Division has clarified the analysis required to determine the effect of restrictive covenant agreements (RCAs) and offered guidance to practitioners drafting RCAs under New Jersey law in a decision on six consolidated actions.

New Jersey has enacted a new law prohibiting employers from seeking or relying on job applicants’ salary history.

New Jersey joins New York and other states in amending its statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims.

In a pair of recent decisions issued in the same case, the Ohio Court of Appeals has grappled with the extent of an insurer’s ability to rely on information extrinsic to the underlying complaint when determining whether a duty to defend its insured exists.

It is well-settled that, in Wisconsin, an insurer’s duty to defend arises whenever the factual allegations in the complaint raise a reasonable possibility of coverage. Yet in West Bend Mutual Insurance Co. v. Ixthus Medical Supply, Inc., the Wisconsin Supreme Court explicitly evaluated the duty to defend based on the elements of liability to the exclusion of the factual allegations.

New Jersey has joined the #MeToo movement as Governor Phil Murphy recently signed Senate Bill 121 into law. The new law prohibits employers from enforcing nondisclosure agreements against current or former employees who lodge any harassment, retaliation or discrimination claim. 

California’s highest court is poised to decide a key question of law concerning potential “personal injury” coverage for claimed violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(C).

A recent decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit creates considerable uncertainty in the evaluation of the rights and obligations of excess casualty insurers in the context of sexual abuse claims.

The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey recently held that an insurer had no duty to defend a sexual abuse action brought against a school board, based on a prior known acts exclusion in the insurer’s policy. 

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“NJDEP”) appears to be taking a new aggressive approach against businesses and corporations under the current Murphy Administration.