Corporate Insurance Blog is one of the Top 50 Insurance Blogs for 2009!

August 17, 2010

I’m excited to let you know that the Corporate Insurance Blog has been listed as one of the Top 50 Insurance Blogs for 2009.  You know, it was an honor to be nominated, as all of the people at awards shows say, but come on, it’s even better to win!

Thanks very much to my friends at Lexis for the honor and the award.

Here, in relevant part,  is how Lexis described the process:

After some very careful review and a great deal of deliberation, the LexisNexis Insurance Law Community has selected its Top 50 Insurance Blogs for 2009.

We’d like to express gratitude to our Community members for your comments and suggestions. All of you submitted many of the new names on the 2009 Top 50 list and we thank you for infusing so much fresh talent into our Community. We also want to specially thank the LexisNexis Insurance Law Advisory Board for giving us their input.

These top blogs offer some of the best writing out there. They contain a wealth of information for all segments of the insurance industry, and include timely news items, expert analysis, practice tips, frequent postings and helpful links to other sites and sources.

Demonstrating on a daily basis that insurance makes the world go round, these blogs also show us how insurance issues interact with politics and culture. These sites also demonstrate the power of the blogsphere, by providing a collective example of how bloggers can—and do—impact and influence the law and the business of insurance.

Here is how they described the Corporate Insurance Blog on the list of awardees:

Corporate Insurance Blog - http://corporateinsuranceblog.com/

Written and Maintained by Scott Godes

This blog is for corporate policyholders, risk managers, and in-house counsel who deal with insurance policies, programs, purchases, renewals, claims, and recovery. It offers a fresh perspective, top notch writing, keen insight, and tackles the tough issues head on.

Many thanks to my friends at Lexis for the recognition, kind words, and the award.

Disclaimer:

This blog is for informational purposes only. This may be considered attorney advertising in some states. The opinions on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s law firm and/or the author’s past and/or present clients. By reading it, no attorney-client relationship is formed. If you want legal advice, please retain an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction. The opinions expressed here belong only the individual contributor(s). © All rights reserved. 2010.


Video clip about insurance coverage for data breaches, from the NetDiligence® Cyber Risk & Privacy Liability Forum.

August 12, 2010

HB Litigation Conferences and NetDiligence hosted the Cyber Risk and Privacy Liability Forum in Philadelphia on June 7 and 8, 2010.  During the conference, I was on a panel discussing insurance coverage for data breaches.  One of the topics that I covered was whether a Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance policy provides coverage for data breaches.  I argued that it does, and explained why. Here’s a short video clip that my friend Tom Hagy created in which I discuss why there is insurance coverage for data breaches and cybersecurity events.

Click here for the video.

Disclaimer:

This blog is for informational purposes only. This may be considered attorney advertising in some states. The opinions on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s law firm and/or the author’s past and/or present clients. By reading it, no attorney-client relationship is formed. If you want legal advice, please retain an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction. The opinions expressed here belong only the individual contributor(s). © All rights reserved. 2010.


“LexisNexis® Insurance Law Community Podcast featuring Scott Godes of Dickstein Shapiro LLP on Cyber Liability Insurance Coverage”

July 23, 2010

LexisNexis was kind enough to have me record a podcast regarding insurance coverage for cyber liabilities. As LexisNexis states on the Insurance Law Center:

On this edition, Scott Godes discusses the types of cyber liabilities facing companies today, what to do, in terms of insurance, if a cyber incident or data breach occurs and types of policies that provide coverage for a cyber event. Copyright© 2010 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Visit http://www.lexisnexis.com/community/insurancelaw/.

If you’d like to hear the entire podcast, please click here.

Disclaimer:
This blog is for informational purposes only. This may be considered attorney advertising in some states. The opinions on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s law firm and/or the author’s past and/or present clients. By reading it, no attorney-client relationship is formed. If you want legal advice, please retain an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction. The opinions expressed here belong only the individual contributor(s). © All rights reserved. 2010.


Join me for ACI’s 4th Annual Advanced Forum on Cyber & Data Risk Insurance.

July 9, 2010

data breach, cybersecurity, insurance coverage

Interested in learning more about cybersinsurance and cybersecurity?  How about coverage for data breaches, cybersecurity events, and other computer risks?  Then please join me for American Conference Institute’s:

4th Annual Advanced Forum on

Cyber & Data Risk Insurance

Monday, September 27 to Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The Helmsley Park Lane Hotel, New York, NY, United States

Cyber and data risk insurance is becoming critical to businesses that operate online, as cyber-attacks are increasing exponentially in terms of frequency, scope, costs and overall impact. With even the best compliance practices in place, it is impossible to guarantee that the private information of consumers and employees will be protected. State Attorneys General and the Federal Trade Commission are becoming more active in investigating and penalizing companies who fail to adequately prevent or respond to a data breach. Additionally, there has been an increase in federal and state legislation and a rise in private actions in the form of mass class actions that are sure to significantly impact this industry.

Demand for cyber and data risk insurance is growing rapidly as businesses are focusing their efforts to address their information risk and data security needs.Broader cyber risk insurance policies have emerged, covering costs relating to responding to a data breach including: notification costs, credit monitoring costs, forensic investigations, call center support, public relations and defense of a claim brought by individuals or federal and state officials.

In light of these risks and exposures, it is critical that you are up to date with the trends in the fast evolving area of cyber and data risk insurance. That is why American Conference Institute developed our successful and well-attended Cyber & Data Risk Insurance Conference in September 2007 and the response in 2008 and 2009 was even better. To those who have attended, come to this 4th annual event — now in New York City — for a revised and updated agenda and to hear from the best and the brightest in the industry, including the FTC, the OTS, the FBI, 2 State Attorneys General and an Assistant Attorney General. For first-time attendees, this conference is your best opportunity to get the tools you need to learn about the new policies, including pricing and negotiating specific coverage, mitigating risks associated with e-business, and to learn strategies so that you can maximize your profitability while minimizing your potential liabilities.

The security and safeguarding of information is vital to protect an organization from financial and reputational loss. This conference is your best opportunity to network with industry insiders, compare products and strategies and to learn valuable information on potential risks and liabilities so that you can put the appropriate insurance protection and risk management practices in place.

Be sure to also register for the Post-Conference Workshop: Negotiating and Drafting Cyber Risk Provisions and Policies

September 28, 2010; 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Back by popular demand with updated content to reflect new developments and additional workshop leaders to walk you through the ins and outs of negotiating and drafting this highly specialized coverage.

Register now by calling 888-224-2480, faxing your registration form to 877-927-1563 or registering online.

Dates:

Mon, Sep 27, 10

Tue, Sep 28, 10

Location:

The Helmsley Park Lane Hotel

New York, NY, United States

My panel, What Policy Holders Are and Should Be Looking for in Cyber and Data Security Coverage, will be covering:

  • Coverage considerations: What liability and first-party coverages are desirable?
  • Reasons companies have or have not bought coverage
  • How standards are evolving in response to new technology threats
  • Consumer redress: when is it covered and when not?
  • Coverage for liabilities (including defense and other costs) and first party losses
    • intentional violations
    • coverage for electronic and non-electronic loss
  • Implementing privacy and data security compliance and policies

Disclaimer:

This blog is for informational purposes only. This may be considered attorney advertising in some states. The opinions on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s law firm and/or the author’s past and/or present clients. By reading it, no attorney-client relationship is formed. If you want legal advice, please retain an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction. The opinions expressed here belong only the individual contributor(s). © All rights reserved. 2010.


Asbestos Insurance Litigation Audiocast with Live Q&A

July 1, 2010

We all know what happens in summer time – lounging by the pool, re-runs on TV, and scrambling for CLE, right?  Of course, your thirst for knowledge about the latest information in the world of insurance coverage and asbestos claims remains unquenched.  Do I have the solution for you!  Sign up for the Asbestos Insurance Litigation Audiocast with Live Q&A.  It will run on July 15, 2010 from 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm Eastern.  You’ll be able to get Continuing Legal Education credit right from your desk!  And, like they say on tv, “if you haven’t seen it [live when we presented this information in Philadelphia], it’s new to you!”  Plus, unlike tv shows being run for an encore round, this CLE will have live Q&A.  Live!  You can ask questions, and you won’t have to go through voicemail jail or hear that your question is important to us, so please keep holding.*  Click here for a link to the full agenda.

My presentation includes a fascinating discussion about premises/operations insurance coverage, also known as “non-products” amongst us cool insurance practitioners.

To register, download the Registration Form and mail/fax/email it to my friends at HB, complete the online form, or call Brownie Bokelman at 484-324-2755 x 212 to register.

* Actually, I can’t guarantee that you won’t hear that.
Disclaimer:

This blog is for informational purposes only. This may be considered attorney advertising in some states. The opinions on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s law firm and/or the author’s past and/or present clients. By reading it, no attorney-client relationship is formed. If you want legal advice, please retain an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction. The opinions expressed here belong only the individual contributor(s). © All rights reserved. 2010.


Corporate Insurance Blog nominated to Lexis’ Insurance Law Community’s Top 50 Insurance Blogs for 2009!

June 22, 2010

I was pleasantly surprised this evening to see that Lexis’ Insurance Law Community has nominated the Corporate Insurance Blog as one of its Top 50 Insurance Blogs for 2009.  Here is how Lexis describes the Corporate Insurance Blog:

Corporate Insurance Blog

http://corporateinsuranceblog.com/

Written and Maintained by Scott Godes

This blog is for corporate policyholders, risk managers, and in-house counsel who deal with insurance policies, programs, purchases, renewals, claims, and recovery. It offers a fresh perspective, top notch writing, keen insight, and tackles the tough issues head on.

Thanks, Lexis, for the kind words!

If Lexis were taking viewer votes, I would ask that you surf over to the virtual polling place and When Lexis e-mails you with the link to vote (see the update below), please vote early and often for this humble blog.  You can still comment on the Lexis ILC page to let them know that they made the right choice.

Update (6/29/10):  My friend, Karen Yotis, who is the Community Manager – LexisNexis Insurance Law Center Content Development/Web 2.0, e-mailed me to give me more information about the ILC Top 50 Insurance Blog nomination.  Karen explained that there will be voting, and it will take place via an e-mailed link at some point mid-July.  So keep your eyes open.  Karen also gave me the go-ahead to use the spiffy new graphic in the post.

Disclaimer:

This blog is for informational purposes only. This may be considered attorney advertising in some states. The opinions on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s law firm and/or the author’s past and/or present clients. By reading it, no attorney-client relationship is formed. If you want legal advice, please retain an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction. The opinions expressed here belong only the individual contributor(s). © All rights reserved. 2010.


Join Me for “The Hot Buttons in Asbestos Insurance Litigation”

June 20, 2010

On Wednesday, June 23, 2010. from 2:00 – 3:40 pm (Eastern).  I’m going to be part of a panel discussing “The Hot Buttons in Asbestos Insurance Litigation.”

We’re going to cover:

  • The Keasbey ruling: contribution and trigger
  • Allocation–pro rata or all sums: jurisdictions still at play, choice of law and related
  • Aggregate limits and “non-products” disputes
  • Insurance and bankruptcy: the current landscape
  • This discussion qualifies for between 1.5 to 2.0 continuing legal education (CLE) credits, depending on state requirements. View the CLE credit details.

    Want to sign up?  Purchase the teleconference Audio Package (includes MP3 audio recording files and handbook on CD). To order or learn more, click here, call 484-324-2755, or email allison.emery@litigationconferences.com.

    Disclaimer:

    This blog is for informational purposes only. This may be considered attorney advertising in some states. The opinions on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s law firm and/or the author’s past and/or present clients. By reading it, no attorney-client relationship is formed. If you want legal advice, please retain an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction. The opinions expressed here belong only the individual contributor(s). © All rights reserved. 2010.


    “When Did ‘AIG’ Become A 4-Letter Word?”

    June 9, 2010

    Remember “AIG”?  Wasn’t it reported that “AIG [Had] Beg[un A] Name Change to AIU”?  But was it the case, as CNNMoney stated, that “Maybe AIU sounded too much like AIG?” thereby leading to a “new company[, which] is Chartis“?

    After the name change(s), what happens in insurance coverage disputes?  Should AIG member companies be able to preclude the use of the name “AIG”?  Insurance Law360 has published a piece that I wrote explaining why AIG member insurance companies should not be able to preclude the name “AIG” from ever seeing the light of day.  Here’s the opening paragraph:

    Remember the days when AIG was a company and a name with which the insurance companies within the AIG umbrella wanted to be affiliated? It seems that those days are long past. In fact, AIG insurance companies have asked courts to rule in limine that policyholders cannot even mention AIG at trial. Any such efforts should be rejected outright.

    The piece notes that in “cases involving AIG member insurance companies, such as Lexington Insurance Company, National Union Insurance Company, and others, AIG likely was involved with the policy and the claim.”  Then the piece discusses the reasons why the name “AIG” is relevant and not unduly prejudicial to the AIG member insurance companies.  Want to see more?  Click on through for the full article.

    Disclaimer:

    This blog is for informational purposes only. This may be considered attorney advertising in some states. The opinions on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s law firm and/or the author’s past and/or present clients. By reading it, no attorney-client relationship is formed. If you want legal advice, please retain an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction. The opinions expressed here belong only the individual contributor(s). © All rights reserved. 2010.

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    “Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property and Cybersecurity Risks.”

    May 19, 2010

    Can you think of many, or, in fact, any, companies that are risk free when it comes to the areas of intellectual property or cybersecurity?  If you represent companies with risks relating to intellectual property and cybersecurity, what insurance coverage would apply if those risks turned into claims and potential liabilities?  Are you familiar with the developing body of insurance coverage law in those areas?

    I’m the author of a forthcoming treatise chapter that answers those exact questions.  It’s the “Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property and Cybersecurity Risks” chapter of the New Appleman Law of Liability Insurance, Second Edition, to be released in June 2010.  Here’s the chapter’s introduction:

    Two developing areas of insurance coverage law are the issues of insurance coverage for intellectual property-based claims and cybersecurity-based claims.  This chapter describes coverages available for such claims.  The chapter first analyzes and details the development of coverage for intellectual property claims through advertising injury found in general liability insurance policies, as well as other coverages.  The chapter then analyzes coverage for cybersecurity claims.  The area of coverage for cybersecurity claims is, relative to most insurance coverage topics, quite nascent, and the chapter considers decisions that should be seen as analogous to this developing topic.  The chapter discusses coverage for cybersecurity claims under general liability, first-party, and other policies, as well as new policies being marketed as specific to cybersecurity risks and claims.

    The intellectual property section of the chapter provides a basic overview of various types of intellectual property risks and provides a detailed discussion of how insurance policies apply to those risks.  The chapter explains the legal principles at issue when seeking insurance coverage for such risks and potential liabilities.  The chapter discusses the majority and minority rules for various issues and provides an analysis of the various exclusions that insurance companies have cited when trying to deny coverage for intellectual property claims.

    The cybersecurity section of the chapter provides an overview of the new and growing cybersecurity risks faced today and details what insurance policies apply to those risks.  The chapter details how courts have ruled on coverage questions for cybersecurity and computer-related risks and liabilities.  For those areas of the law that are not as well-developed, in light of the relatively new nature of cybersecurity risks, the chapter notes analogous caselaw and how those holdings should apply to cybersecurity claims.  The section also notes issues to consider for companies in the market for new and specialized cybersecurity insurance policies.

    This post appeared originally at the Lexis Insurance Law Community.
    Disclaimer:

    This blog is for informational purposes only. This may be considered attorney advertising in some states. The opinions on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s law firm and/or the author’s past and/or present clients. By reading it, no attorney-client relationship is formed. If you want legal advice, please retain an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction. The opinions expressed here belong only the individual contributor(s). © All rights reserved. 2010.

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    “Oil in the Gulf: Litigation & Insurance Coverage”

    May 5, 2010

    Looking to learn more about the oil spill in the Gulf and the Deepwater Horizon Drilling Rig explosion?  Want to know what sort of insurance coverage could cover resulting liability, first party, business interruption, contingent business interruption, and other claims?

    Then you should check out the Oil in the Gulf: Litigation & Insurance Coverage Teleconference, hosted by my friends at HB Litigation Conferences.

    My colleague, Selena Linde, will be one of the two speakers for the event.  On the agenda, among other things, will be:

    • The recent Gulf Disaster-Deepwater Horizon Drilling Rig explosion, sinking and spill
    • Who will the claimants be and what theories of liability will prevail?
    • Analysis of the applicable coverage claims and exclusions including business interruption, property and environmental coverage claims
    • Unique state law issues for insurers in direct action states, such as Louisiana

    To register, you can download the Registration Form (PDF) and mail/fax/email it to HB Litigation Conferences, complete the online form, or e-mail or call Brownie Bokelman at 484-324-2755 x 212 to register.

    Disclaimer:

    This blog is for informational purposes only. This may be considered attorney advertising in some states. The opinions on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s law firm and/or the author’s past and/or present clients. By reading it, no attorney-client relationship is formed. If you want legal advice, please retain an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction. The opinions expressed here belong only the individual contributor(s). © All rights reserved. 2010.

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