Representative Cases

The Insurance Coverage Department at Rawle & Henderson LLP has handled numerous complex insurance cases for its insurance carrier clients. Rawle & Henderson LLP attorneys have successfully litigated many aspects of insurance coverage under the following types of policies/coverage forms:

• Comprehensive General Liability Coverage
• Commercial Property Coverage
• Professional Liability Coverage
• Aviation/Aircraft/Airport/Hangarkeeper's Liability Coverage
• Automobile/Trucking Liability Coverage
• Pollution/Environmental Liability Coverage
• Liquor Liability Coverage
• Garage/Garagekeeper's Liability Coverage
• Directors' & Officers' Liability Coverage
• Excess/Umbrella Policies
• Life Insurance Policies
• Accidental Death and Dismemberment Policies
• Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Policies
• Healthcare Policies

• Whether coverage under a Liquor Liability Policy is triggered where the underlying complaint against the insured fails to mention the service, sale, or consumption of alcohol and does not include any dram shop claims, yet where the insured contends that the claimant was intoxicated.
• Whether an excess carrier has a cause of action against a primary carrier where the underlying lawsuit against the insured could have been settled within the primary policy's limit, the primary carrier refused to settle, and the judgment against the insured was in excess of the limit of the primary policy.
• Whether a causal connection is required between an accident and a pilot's failure to meet the minimum flying hours requirement in an Aviation Policy in order for the insurer to deny coverage.
• Whether malpractice claims are covered by a Professional Liability policy where the insurer was not notified about the underlying lawsuit until after a judgment had been entered against the insured but where an assessment of damages hearing must still be conducted.
• Whether a single allegation in a complaint that the insured "defamed" the claimant is sufficient to trigger the duty to defend under the "personal injury" section of a CGL policy where the insured is not actually sued for defamation.
• Determining whether an electronic waiver of UM/UIM benefits through an insurer's website is sufficient under the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law and determining what information must be provided on an insurer's website for an electronic waiver of UM/UIM benefits to be valid.
• Whether there is coverage under various CGL policies for claims that the insured illegally and improperly occupied and usurped land legally owned by the claimant.
• Whether an individual purchasing coverage for a business-related event under a master policy issued to a business association is bound by various exclusions in the policy where a copy of the policy, itself, was provided to the business association, but not to the individual insured.
• Whether the "business risk exclusions" in a general liability policy applied to a claim that the policyholder used a defective product during the construction of a house, but where there was no damage to the house itself.
• The applicable trigger theory for a Contractors' Pollution Liability Policy.
• Determining the proper allocation of defense costs in a case involving a Directors' & Officers' Liability Policy.
• Whether an insurance company has acted in bad faith where it has changed the basis for its denial of coverage three times.
• Whether a pollution exclusion in a general liability policy excludes coverage for personal injury claims where the product that allegedly caused the harm, although possibly falling within the definition of a "pollutant," is the very product manufactured by the policyholder?