Insights

Washington – June 1, 2023: Crowell & Moring earned 82 rankings for 68 lawyers across 48 categories, as well as 37 national and statewide practice area rankings, in the Chambers USA 2023 guide. The rankings are driven by independent interviews of clients and lawyers at peer firms.

On November 15, 2023, the Attorney General of New York filed suit against PepsiCo, Inc., seeking to hold the soft drink and snack food manufacturer liable for plastic waste on the shores of the Buffalo River under multiple theories including public nuisance, strict product liability for failure to warn, violation of New York General Business Law Section 349 (deceptive trade practices) and New York Executive Law Section 63 (12) (persistent fraud or illegality in conduct of business).  

On March 2, 2023, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed the grant of summary judgment to Erie Insurance Exchange in Rose’s 1, LLC, et al. v. Erie Ins. Exch., a COVID-19 business interruption claim filed by several restaurants and food service businesses in the District of Columbia. In doing so, the court “join[ed] the majority of other courts in determining that ‘direct physical loss of or damage to property’ requires some sort of tangible, material alteration, which does not include ‘loss of use.’” Opinion at 26.

On February 17, 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that violations of the Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) (the country’s first biometric privacy legislation) accrue for each incident of capture or dissemination of biometric information, and not only once for each data subject. Cothron v. White Castle Systems found based on the plain language of the statute that violations for collecting or disclosing biometric information occur at every scan or transaction. Cothron v. White Castle Sys., 2023 IL 128004. The court reached this conclusion while admitting the “absurd” implications, including that the ruling could result in damages of $17 billion. Id. at ¶ 40.

The ABA is celebrating 35 years of the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee CLE Seminar. The seminar will provide the very latest developments in insurance law from leading lawyers and insurance professionals. There will be cutting-edge and informative plenary, breakout, and roundtable programs; and valuable networking events. This year’s meeting will feature the same high-quality programming that has attracted insurance practitioners from all over the United States and other parts of the globe.

Laura Foggan, partner and chair of the firm's Insurance/Reinsurance Group, will be a featured speaker on the American Law Institute’s Restatements of the Law, Liability Insurance, Consumer Contracts and Torts: Concluding Provisions, and their implications for insurers. The National General Counsel Conference offers top-notch content on legal and regulatory issues, tailored to the property casualty insurance company perspective.

The Global Marine Insurance Claims Community (GMICC) is hosting an inaugural hybrid event 'Turning AIS off - insurance and contractual repercussions' on Thursday 04 November, 2021. 

Join Crowell's Michelle Linderman and Dj Wolff on December 14, 2022, 13:00 UTC for a BIMCO 15 + 15 webinar (15 min presentation, followed by a 15 min Q&A). They will talk about the price cap on Russian oil exports, whereby the G7, along with the European Union and Australia, have agreed to implement a price cap on Russian oil and oil products in order to reduce Russia’s revenues which are funding its war efforts in Ukraine while seeking to ensure energy security.  The price cap is designed to allow companies to provide shipment and insurance of Russian oil and oil products provided that the purchase price is below the agreed price cap, but how has it begun to work in practice, and what are the practical issues being experienced by the different actors in the supply chain?

ESG is a major challenge for insurers. All businesses are being called upon to reevaluate their products and purpose, including their role as employers of diverse, engaged workforces. Plaintiffs’ counsel have already begun to take advantage of changing regulatory and consumer expectations, and ESG-related claims are being pursued in the courts over a wide range of issues. Not only are insurers figuring out how to help others manage these risks, they’re also trying to determine the many ways ESG affects them. 

Please join us for a discussion to explore key issues in the business community as the war in Ukraine continues to reverberate through the global supply chain.