Lloyd Gura and Wendy Stein Fulton authored “Surfside: The Historic Settlement and the Legislative Response” in the Insurance Law Special Section in the New York Law Journal. It explores the government’s efforts to curb the impact of...
No Direct Physical Loss or Damage
Benihana v. Allied World et al., case number 650495/2022 (Manhattan Supreme Court) In this COVID-19 coverage matter, the court was asked to consider whether Benihana could demonstrate “direct physical loss or damage” to property in...
On appeal, a group of insurers argued before the New Jersey Appellate Division that damage and financial loss to Merck resulting from the 2017 NotPetya cyberattack launched by Russia, in connection with its ongoing conflict with Ukraine, should be...
The Delaware high court justices found that Delaware law, not Montana law, should apply to Stillwater Mining Co. even though Stillwater does its core business in Montana. The decision relies on the fact that Stillwater was incorporated in Delaware and...
This Q&A was published in the January/February 2023 issue of Claims Magazine & PropertyCasualty360 on January 23, 2023. Partner Wendy Stein Fulton discussed effective strategies for handling complex claims in a Q&A with the editor-in-chief...
Law360 discusses the most significant directors and offices insurance cases to watch in 2023. One such case is the Fourth Circuit’s highly anticipated ruling on the applicability of a bump-up exclusion. The insurers are seeking to overturn a...
In Law360’s discussion of the most significant D&O decisions in 2022, partner Thomas Breen, who represents insurers, discussed a case between Ceradyne and Liberty Mutual where the judge agreed with the insurers regarding the applicability of...
“‘Tonoga v. New Hampshire’ and the Applicability of Pollution Exclusions to PFAS” was published in New York Law Journal on October 5, 2022. Partner Hilary Henkind and associate Ananda Zhu analyze the applicability of pollution...
No Direct Physical Loss or Damage / COVID-19
Florida Circuit Judge Bradley G. Harper awarded Mound Cotton’s client a partial dismissal of property damage claims made by an international real estate investment company. Plaintiff alleged that the presence of COVID-19 physically damaged property by...
No Direct Physical Loss or Damage / Contamination Exclusion
Wolverine World Wide v. Zurich American Insurance Company, docket No.: 21 CH 4457 (Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Chancery Division July 21, 2022) On July 21, 2022, Judge Pamela McLean Meyerson of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Chancery...
No Physical Loss or Damage
New Jersey Superior Court Judge Steven Polansky awarded a full dismissal of COVID-19 business interruption claims. The policyholder failed to show that the presence of COVID-19 caused physical loss or damage required to qualify for coverage. “The...
A five-judge panel dismissed $3 million in property coverage claims. Caused by nearby construction, the damage to the policyholder’s building falls under an earth movement exclusion which disqualifies it from coverage. Partner Kevin Buckley,...
A NY judge dismissed coverage claims against Wesco Insurance Co. The ruling aligns with decisions in a growing majority of cases in which plaintiffs are unable to prove that the presence of COVID-19 caused tangible damage to property. Partner Kevin...
Partner Jeffrey Weinstein and associate Samuel Weiss examine the viability in federal circuit courts of the time-sensitive snap removal — a motion to move from state to federal court, made after a plaintiff has filed a case but before they have properly...
This article was published on the PLUS (Professional Liability Underwriting Society) Blog on March 14, 2022. Partner Barry Temkin and Robert Usinger, Esq. co-authored “Choice of Counsel and Policy Erosion for Professional Liability Policies Under...
Covid 19/No Physical Loss or Damage
SFMB Management v. Starr Surplus Lines Insurance Co., docket No. 653203/2021 (Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, January 20, 2022) On January 20, 2022, the Supreme Court of the State of New York’s Justice Debra James granted MCWG’s...
This Q&A was published in the December 2021 issues of Mealey’s International Arbitration Report and Mealey’s Coronavirus Law Report. Senior Counsel Michael H. Goldstein was on a Q&A panel for Mealey’s International Arbitration Report...
This article was published in Daily Business Review on December 21, 2021.
Law firms based outside of Florida capitalized on the migration of businesses to the region by hiring south Florida-based attorneys. A review of 2021 partner laterals and office launches reveals that New York law firms led this hiring trend. Partner...
Business Interruption / COVID-19
J. Kleinhaus & Sons, LLC v. Valley Forge Ins. Co., 2021 WL 5909978, No. 21 CIV 2202 (JPC), (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 14, 2021) Plaintiff, a diamond dealer, alleged that due to the pandemic and governmental closure orders, it was only able to conduct limited...
In Raymours Furniture Co., Inc. v. Lexington Insurance Co. et al., No. 655167 2020, 2021 WL 4789148 (N.Y. Supr. Ct. N.Y. Cnty. Oct. 14, 2021), Mound Cotton’s clients were awarded a full dismissal with prejudice on the ground that the presence of the...
This article was published in Daily Business Review on October 14, 2021. Partners Wendy Stein Fulton and William Wilson spoke to the Daily Business Review about the firm’s strategy in Florida.
Partner Amy Kallal and Special Counsel Andrea Fort discuss recent cases involving the efforts to obtain access to arbitration awards which are filed as part of petitions to confirm or vacate. Some courts have allowed third-party access to awards just...
This article was published in Law360 on September 21, 2021: “Mound Cotton Adds Ex-Kiernan Trebach Insurance Partner”. Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass LLP expanded its Fort Lauderdale, Florida, office this month with the addition of a...
The New York Law Journal published “NY Prompt Pay Act for Construction Contractors,” written by partner Barry Temkin and coauthor Ken Eccleston, on August 10, 2021. This article provides an in-depth discussion of New York’s Prompt Pay Act,...
Partner Michael Koblenz, who represents the buyer in a real estate sale in the Hamptons, commented on the it in The Real Deal. He filed a complaint with the Department of State, alleging gross misrepresentation and exaggeration of the circumstances by...
Presence of COVID-19 is not requisite physical damage
Benny’s Famous Pizza Plus Inc. v. Security National Insurance Company, 2021 NY Slip Op. 31963(U), 2021 WL 2772403 (Sup. Ct. Kings Cnty. July 2, 2021) This case involved a business interruption claim for losses arising out of COVID-19 closures. By...
COVID-19 business income loss / NJ Federal Court
Marilyn’s Kids, Inc. d/b/a Denny’s v. Continental Casualty Company, Civil Action No. 20-8641, 2021 WL 4488598, (D.N.J. June 30, 2021) This case involved a claim for business income losses from COVID-19 under a first-party property insurance policy. The...
Flood exclusion applies / Builder’s Risk
Shea Properties Management Co., et al. v. The Continental Insurance Company, et al., Case No. SA CV 21-00514, 2021 WL 4815208 (C.D. Cal. June 29, 2021) U.S. District Judge David O. Carter dismissed the complaint in a $4.5 million builder’s risk...
Maintaining Confidentiality When Petitioning for Relief in Court A long-running dispute between Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Company and one of its reinsurers, Everest Reinsurance Company, recently culminated in the unsealing of an...
This article was published on Law360.com (subscription required) on June 10, 2021, in Insurance Authority, and in the daily Insurance newsletter. It was written by Partner Amy Justine Kallal, Special Counsel Andrea Fort, and associate Andrew Romano. On...
Barry Temkin co-authored “ABA Remote Work Guide Raises Bar For Atty Tech Know-How” in Law360 (subscription required) with Jennifer Goldsmith, vice president of professional liability claims at Ironshore, discussing ABA Ethics Opinion 498, a...
This article was published in the New York Law Journal on January 15, 2021. In addition to a 2018 ABA ethics opinion which outlines when law firms are ethically obligated to notify clients of data breaches jeopardizing the security of their confidential...
This article was reprinted with permission from Business Law Today. Much has been written in recent years about lawyers’ duties to preserve the confidentiality of client information under the rules of professional conduct and to take reasonable...
This article was originally published in the New York Law Journal on July 20, 2020. Expert Opinion The SEC and U.S. Justice Department are investigating suspicious stock trades made by U.S. Senator Richard Burr in February 2020, which might have been...
This article was reprinted with permission from Business Law Today, May 12, 2020. On June 30, 2020 registered securities broker-dealers must begin their compliance with new SEC Regulation Best Interest and Form CRS Relationship Summary/Form ADV Part 3,...
Partner Matthew Lasky’s article, “Data Protection: Harmonizing Tensions Between the NAIC’s ‘Insurance Data Security Law’ & Traditional Access-To-Records Provisions” was published in the Journal of Reinsurance 2020,...
Partner Barry Temkin was quoted in an article in Investment News, “Finra fines Prudential $1 million over inaccurate retirement-plan information,” discussing FINRA’s recent enforcement action resulting from an inquiry of Prudential...
Partner Barry Temkin’s article about the SEC’s new regulation governing broker-dealers, Regulation Best Interest (Reg. BI), “New ‘Regulation Best Interest’ Becomes Effective for Broker Dealers,” was published in the New York Law...
The article, co-authored with Brenda Dorsett, is about ethical concerns for lawyers who use Amazon Echo and other voice-activated digital assistants. It was published on Friday, May 24, 2019, as an Expert Analysis. Click here to download and read. Click...
This article “Lawyers’ Digital Assistants Raise Ethics, Privacy Concerns” was originally published on Law360, May 23, 2019 Is my Amazon Alexa spying on me? Recent years have witnessed the growth and proliferation of voice-activated...
First-Party Wear and Tear Exclusion
200 Court Street LLC v. Wesco Ins. Co., 2019 WL 3207539, 2019 N.Y. Slip Op. 31945(U) (Queens Co. Sup. Ct. May 20, 2019) This case involved a first-party property insurance dispute in which Wesco Insurance Company denied a claim for wind damage to the...
Coverage for “Residence Premises”
Canale v. Castlepoint Ins. Co., 64 Misc.3d 1208(A), 116 N.Y.S.3d 861 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2019) This case involved a first-party property insurance dispute in which Castlepoint Insurance Company denied a claim for fire damage to a dwelling configured as...
The article, “America Has An Opioid Problem: Who’s Going To Pay To Fix It?,” is available in the AIRROC Matters 2019 Spring Issue and The Society of Actuaries. You can read the article here.
Partner Lloyd Gura and special counsel Andrea Fort’s article, “Automatization of Underwriting and the Future of the Reinsurance Relationship,” was published in the March 2019 Journal of Reinsurance. New technology and artificial...
U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” has ranked law firms in 75 national practice areas and 122 metro practice areas for 2019. Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass has been named as a Tier 1 firm in the New York Metropolitan area and in Tier 2...
Consigned Goods Not Covered Property
Talisman Services, Inc. v. Hermitage Ins. Co., 2018 WL 3859692 (N.Y.Sup.), 2018 N.Y. Slip Op. 31955(U) (New York Co. Sup. Ct., Aug 14, 2018) Talisman involved a first-party property insurance dispute where the insured claimed coverage for water damage...
This article was originally published on Professional Liability Insurance Newsletter, American Bar Association, Fall 2018. On June 11, 2018, news broke that the local and federal law enforcement officials had arrested 74 people, including nearly 30 in...
Barry Temkin discussed whether Michael Cohen committed a crime under New York law when he recorded phone calls he had with President Trump in secret in Law360, “Cohen Tapes Show Broken Attorney-Client Relationship.” (subscription required) ...
Partner Barry Temkin was recently quoted in an article in Investment News about a risk alert sent out by the Securities and Exchange Commission to advisers in regards to the overcharging of clients: “This might be a good opportunity for advisers...
Click the link below to read the article. Finra: More than a quarter of arbitration awards go unpaid
Partner Barry Temkin was recently quoted in an article in Investment News about FINRA’s plan to compile a list of high-risk advisers for additional regulatory scrutiny. “I would be deeply concerned by the existence of some kind of list of...
This article,”Tips For Handling Workplace Substance Abuse Under ADA,” was updated and reprinted with permission from Law360, October 11, 2017. The opioid crisis has focused attention on workplace substance abuse like never before. In August,...
This article, “Understanding Insurance Issues in Securities Arbitration and Mediation,” was reprinted with permission from the New York Law Journal, Volume 258—NO. 37 Wednesday, August 22, 2017. Insurance issues often influence the outcome...
If you could count on anything, it would be that our partner, Dan Markewich, would spend at least a few minutes at each monthly partner meeting talking about the Mound Cotton Newsletter. The Newsletter was something he took pride in, often reminding the...
This article was originally published by Bloomberg Law on May 17, 2017. Lawyers who maintain active social media presences should be aware of two recent opinions by ethics committees in New York discussing the extent to which lawyers’ postings on the...
MZM Real Estate Corp. v. Tower Ins. Co. of N.Y., 2017 N.Y. Slip Op. 30691(U), 2017 WL 1330494, 2017 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1292 (Sup. Ct. [N.Y. Co.] April 7, 2017) In this case, the Insured sued to enforce an appraisal award arising out of Superstorm Sandy....
This article was originally published by Business Insurance on March 6, 2017. As more businesses come to realize that cyber attacks pose a serious threat to business operations, revenue streams and contingency planning, the market is starting to expand...
Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass congratulates its partner Frank J. DeAngelis on his confirmation as a judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Morris County. Frank started his career at Mound Cotton over twenty years ago and has been a valued...
This article accompanied a presentation Partner Jonathan Gross gave at the Defense Research Institute’s “Insurance Coverage and Claims Institute Seminar” on April 7, 2016 in Chicago. To read the full article, please click below. The article was also...
Lawyers who represent insurance companies, banks, insurance agents and other financial institutions in New York should be aware of new Department of Financial Services (DFS) cybersecurity regulations that become effective January 1, 2017. The new DFS...
Five Towns Nissan, LLC v. Universal Underwriters Ins. Co. et. al., 2016 NY Slip Op 32316(U), 2016 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 4347, 2016 WL 6916478 (Sup Ct. [NY Co.], Nov. 22, 2016) reargument denied (Feb. 8, 2017) This litigation concerns first-party insurance...
U.S. News and Best Lawyers have ranked law firms in 74 national practice areas and 122 metro practice areas for 2016. Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass has been ranked as a Tier 1 law firm in the N.Y. metropolitan area and in Tier 2 nationally in the...
MCWG partners Costantino Suriano, Deanna Manzo, and associate Kelly Cheverko authored a White Paper on Fort McMurray Wildfires: “WHO IS THE CBI WINNER? An Oil-Producing City Evacuated Must Mean a CBI Claim is Coming to Some Insurer.” The...
Mound Cotton’s partner Jeffrey Weinstein and associate Jared Markowitz co-authored “REBUTTAL: When Insurance Policies Are Enforced As Written.” The article was published by Law360 on January 26, 2016. It is reprinted with...
Partner Barry Temkin was quoted on 10/29/2015 in a National Law Journal article titled “Calculating the Hourly Rate of a Federal Agency Lawyer? It’s Complicated.” Commenting on the request of CFTC counsel for court-ordered sanctions...
