May courts look beyond the face of a loan transaction to identify the “true lender”? In a lawsuit filed by California’s financial regulator, a California state court recently answered yes, finding that a fact-intensive inquiry into the “substance” of a loan transaction was necessary to determine who the “true lender” is and declining to dismiss
Litigation
Half Year Review: Insurance Coverage Litigation (H1 2022)
This half-yearly update on insurance coverage litigation summarises significant insurance coverage cases in the English courts and provides a detailed analysis of the Corbin & King v AXA Insurance UK Plc case, highlighting the key takeaways for policyholders. In the first half of 2022, the English courts have delivered important judgments on a number of critical issues for policyholders, including Covid-19 business interruption insurance, aggregation clauses, insurers’ implied obligation to pay claims within a “reasonable” time, and the effect of lenders’ mortgagee interest insurance policies; some of which are policyholder friendly, some less so.
Significant cases 2022 H1
Corbin & King v AXA Insurance UK Plc [2022] EWHC 409 (Comm): In the most anticipated decision of the last half-year relating to Covid-19 business interruption losses, the English High Court determined in favour of a restaurant business, that a prevention of access clause in its policy was triggered by the Government-mandated lockdowns arising from Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021. Given the importance of this case for policyholders, we analyse the court’s findings in further detail below.
Spire Healthcare Limited v Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Limited [2022] EWCA Civ 17: This decision is the latest word on the interpretation of “aggregation clauses” in insurance policies that require a policyholder to aggregate similar or related losses into a single claim against the insurer, which is then subject to a liability cap on each claim. The Court of Appeal held that several claims against the policyholder could be aggregated into one claim against the insurer on the basis that there was “one source or original cause” of the policyholder’s loss. As a result, the policyholder’s recovery was limited to £10 million, the policy limit per claim.…
Continue Reading Half Year Review: Insurance Coverage Litigation (H1 2022)
Emerging Trends: Renewed Wave of Video Privacy Class Actions
Recent months have seen a growing trend of data privacy class actions asserting claims for alleged violations of federal and state video privacy laws. In this year alone, plaintiffs have filed dozens of new class actions in courts across the country asserting claims under the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”), Michigan’s Preservation of Personal…
Companies Increasingly Facing Class Actions Connected to Cryptocurrency Theft
A recent class action refiled in federal court against Shopify highlights a growing trend of lawsuits against companies related to the theft of cryptocurrency, particularly as a result of internal company threats. See Forsberg et al v. Shopify, Inc. et al, 1:22-cv-00436 (D. Del.). Despite not itself being a repository for or facilitating the…
Fourth Circuit Holds Statements About Importance of Data Security Not Actionable
In a new post on the Inside Class Actions blog, our colleagues discuss a recent Fourth Circuit opinion holding that statements about the importance a company places on data security are not actionable following a data breach. The case, In re Marriott International, Inc., — F.4th —-, No. 21-1802 (4th Cir. Apr. 21…
Court Rejects Dismissal of Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act Against Clearview AI in Pending Multidistrict Litigation
An Illinois federal district court recently rejected dismissal of Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) claims in In re Clearview AI, Inc., Consumer Privacy Litigation, No. 21-cv-135 (N.D. Ill.). The Clearview plaintiffs alleged that Clearview violated their privacy rights without their knowledge and consent by scraping more than three billion photographs of facial images…
Illinois Supreme Court Rules Workers’ Compensation Act Does Not Bar BIPA Liquidated Damages Claims
On Thursday, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ruled in McDonald v. Symphony Bronzeville Park LLC that the exclusivity provisions of the state’s workers’ compensation statute do not preclude liquidated damages claims under the Biometric Information Privacy Act. The decision narrows the defenses available to employers facing employment-related BIPA claims.
Illinois’s Workers’ Compensation Act generally provides…
Supreme Court Narrows Meaning of TCPA Autodialer Definition
In effect, the Supreme Court’s opinion means that to qualify as an “automatic telephone dialing
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