Case Summary, Labor and Employment Law
Apr 11 | Case Summary, Labor and Employment Law
March 2022 Case Summaries include issues with forum-selection clauses in California employment agreements subject to Labor Code Section 925, employment arbitration agreements, and the ability of trial courts to strike down PAGA claims.
Case Summary, Labor and Employment Law
Mar 16 | Case Summary, Labor and Employment Law
Case summaries for January and February 2022 include determining standards for evaluating whistleblower retaliation, rest-period requirements for motor carrier drivers, at-will employees suing employers for willful misrepresentation, and jury trials for PAGA actions.
Legal Alert, Insurance Coverage
Mar 11 | Legal Alert, Insurance Coverage
In another policyholder-friendly decision, a Texas federal court denied an insurer’s attempt to rely on an anti-indemnity statute to avoid a duty to defend an additional insured. Knife River Corporation - South, v. Zurich American Insurance Company, et al., No. 3:21-CV-1344-B, 2022 WL 686625 (N.D. Tex. Mar. 8, 2022) is a helpful ruling for builders and general contractors seeking coverage as an additional insured for claims that can be read as seeking to impose liability on the additional insured potentially based on the conduct of the named insured. While a number of states have passed anti-indemnity statutes like Texas’s, the case law on these statutes has favored policyholders, as courts have been reluctant to enforce anti-indemnity statutes against insureds. The Knife River decision is another example of a court refusing to use an anti-indemnity statute to limit the valuable right to additional-insured coverage that builders and general contractors negotiate with subcontractors.
Legal Alert, Insurance Coverage
Mar 11 | Legal Alert, Insurance Coverage
Insurers regularly argue that commercial general liability (“CGL”) policies are not performance bonds and therefore there is no coverage for claims seeking damages for defective or faulty workmanship. Insurers also argue there is no coverage for so-called “tear-out” or “rip-and-tear” damages, where fixing property damage requires replacing defective work that has not itself been damaged. Fortunately, in a newly decided case, a Texas federal district court rejected both arguments by an insurer.
Legal Alert, Labor and Employment Law
Mar 03 | Legal Alert, Labor and Employment Law
On March 3, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021. The act passed both houses of the legislature with broad bipartisan support. The act, which is an amendment to Title IX of the U.S. Code (the Federal Arbitration Act), takes effect immediately, and renders invalid and unenforceable any predispute agreement to arbitrate with respect to claims relating to a sexual harassment dispute or sexual assault dispute, whether brought in a single plaintiff or class action lawsuit.
Legal Alert, Insurance Coverage
Feb 22 | Legal Alert, Insurance Coverage
The construction industry operates under the constant spectre of claims seeking damages for defective or faulty workmanship. Fortunately, the law in most states treats these claims as covered under commercial general liability (“CGL”) policies. A small minority of states take a much stingier view. In a newly decided case, a Pennsylvania federal court confirmed that Pennsylvania belongs to this small group of states that regard construction claims as not worthy of liability insurance coverage. Main St. Am. Assurance Co. v. Howard Lynch Plastering, Inc., No. CV 21-3977, 2022 WL 445768, (E.D. Pa. Feb. 14, 2022).
Legal Alert, Insurance Coverage
Feb 18 | Legal Alert, Insurance Coverage
For decades, an insurer’s duty to defend under Texas law was determined exclusively by reviewing the insurance contract and the allegations of the complaint under the “eight-corners rule.” All of this changed last week when, in a long-awaited decision, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that courts may consider extrinsic evidence to determine the existence of coverage in certain limited situations.
Legal Alert, Labor and Employment Law
Feb 09 | Legal Alert, Labor and Employment Law
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed new legislation, COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (Senate Bill 114), into law that will require all employers with more than 25 employees to provide their employees with up to 40 hours of COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave. The legislation is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2022 and is currently set to expire on Sept. 30, 2022.
Article, Insurance Coverage
Feb 07 | Article, Insurance Coverage
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently confirmed that liability insurers have a duty to defend their insureds in construction defect cases when the underlying complaint alleges damage to property beyond the product and work of the insured – even if the complaint merely implies that the insured seeks such damage, without explicitly alleging so. Siplast, Incorporated v. Employers Mutual Casualty Company, No. 20-11076, 2022 WL 99303 (5th Cir. Jan. 11, 2022).
