Environmental Insurance for Contractors: More Possibilities Than May Be Expected

Pollution events are often thought of as uninsurable. A more realistic view is that loss or claim from a pollution incident is an insured event in many insurance standard property and liability policies. While coverage may be narrow and limits less than may be desired, it does exist. In this article we look at insurance policies typical of the construction industry to determine the extent of coverage for damages from an incident of pollution.     

Environmental Claims – Battlefield Tested Tips and Ways to Improve your Overall Claims Experience

This article provides an insurance brokers' perspective on how an Insured can best protect its coverage in the event of a pollution claim. While policy negotiations during underwriting will set coverage, keeping coverage throughout the claim is equally as important. Having early and consistent communications between the Insured and its insurance carrier is critically important and a necessary part of keeping a covered claim covered.     

Green Building Risks: It's Not Easy Being Green

Building “green” and seeking certification are becoming necessary considerations for any construction project or construction improvement. The benefits and risks associated with building green will be explored in this article, and insurance solutions are offered. Certified green structures should provide healthier environments to work and live. Productivity should increase and sickness and absenteeism should decrease. The popularity, importance, and number of green building projects will continue to increase. However, green building also involves increased litigation risks associated with design, construction, ownership, and operation. This article will explore those risks, and insurability of such claim exposures. Many of those risks are insurable; some are currently uninsurable.     

Green-Building and Renewable-Energy Insurance Claims: Where Are We Now?

What kind of insurance claims might arise out of clean-energy initiatives and the associated risks? This article examines these issues, including those associated with construction or conversion of so-called green buildings, e-waste, carbon sequestration, alternative fuels, and other environmental matters that continue to raise a host of novel issues. In addition to more traditional risks, e.g., changing and potentially contradictory energy-efficiency rules have become a litigation issue in Albuquerque and elsewhere. There are simple, practical ways to manage these various environmental risks and many insurance companies are responding with new coverage products. The elements and structure of these programs also provide insight into what kind of claims (and disputes) may arise.     

Environmental Mock Claims Analysis

Environmental risks have earned a reputation for undermining a wide range of business activities. Given the tremendous potential for unanticipated environmental losses, multitiered claims and high-priced litigation, environmental risks have prompted organizations to seek protection through a variety of risk transfer methods. The insurance community has in turn responded with the creation of a progressive menu of project-specific and entity-specific environmental insurance products that can help provide financial security to those organizations exposed to real or perceived environmental risks. What are these products and how do they work? The following mock claim analysis (MCA) highlights some of the risk issues and the insurance solutions.     

论我国生态损害责任保险制度的构建

生态损害责任险在我国既缺乏立法支撑又缺乏实践经验,我国生态损害责任险的构建将会面临诸多问题,包括生态损害风险的可保性、投保模式、保险费率、保险限额、保险机构及索赔机制等.我国应当尽快构建生态损害责任保险制度,逐步提升生态损害风险的评估技术水平以解决可保性问题,并在风险预防及有效填补损害原则的指导下构建我国生态损害责任保险制度.     

海上重复保险若干法律问题评析

海上重复保险制作为海上保险法律制度的一部分 ,法律对它的规定很简略 ,历来的著述中对它的研究也都很少 ,且有一定的误解。本文对海上重复保险的含义加以澄清和重新界定 ,对于重复保险的效力根据超额保险、非超额保险和善意保险、恶意保险几种情况加以分析 ,并对于重复保险赔付过程中和赔付后、保险人与被保险人及保险人之间的特殊的法律关系加以分析论述 ,指出立法上存在的需要完善和改进的若干问题。     

Insurance Coverage for Environmental Claims: Current Litigation Issues in the United States

The insurance industry introduced exclusions for environmental claims in the general commercial litigation policies in the early 1970s, and introduced even greater restrictions in the 1980s. Litigation over the two most common pollution exclusions has been robust and will likely continue to increase. This article first briefly reviews the history of insurance coverage for environmental claims in the United States, including the most common issues and how the courts have addressed them. The article then discusses the current issues and emerging trends in insurance coverage for environmental claims under the general commercial policies. Finally, there is a brief discussion on the growing market for insurance products that specifically cover (rather than exclude) environmental claims.     

Two “Wrongs” Make a Right to Coverage: When Waiver or Estoppel Precludes an Insurer's Breach of Cooperation Defense

Liability insurance policies almost always contain a provision requiring the policyholder to cooperate with the insurance company in various ways. An insured's failure to comply with such a condition may preclude coverage. When an insurer asserts a breach of the cooperation provision defense to a claim for coverage, however, the insured may counter that the insurer either waived, or is estopped from relying on, the cooperation provision. This article provides a brief outline of waiver/estoppel issues to be considered in evaluating an insurer's conduct when it asserts a non-cooperation defense.

“When you point your finger at someone, three fingers are pointing back at you.”

—Anonymous     

Insurers, Claims and the Boundaries of Good Faith

This article examines the refusal of the English courts to award damages for consequential losses following unreasonable delay on the part of insurers in settling a claim. This has the potential to give rise to dire consequences for insureds. These difficulties have been addressed in North American jurisdictions where the concept of good faith has been developed and applied as a means of both compensating insureds and regulating the conduct of insurers. However, a hallmark of English law is that it fails to draw a bright line between the law of contract and the law of contracts. As a result, the policy issues that should inform insurance contracts are excluded by virtue of the notion, imported from the law of contract, that the contractual relationship is a matter of private law and is not, therefore, a means for public regulation of insurers.     

确权诉讼程序法律问题研究

在对确权诉讼程序之法理作出初探的基础上,根据审判实践,讨论了确权诉讼程序所涉及的五个法律问题:即确权诉讼的性质及审理范围;确权诉讼的管辖制度;《海诉法解释》第90条的理解与适用;确权诉讼适用《民诉法》引发的问题;海上保险人提起确权诉讼的特殊问题。     

海上保险代位求偿权之民法法源研究

针对《中华人民共和国保险法》和《中华人民共和国海商法》下就海上保险代位求偿权的相关法律规定,和保险代位求偿实务中出现的具体问题,采取定性分析法,提出在中国民商合一的立法体制下,保险代位求偿制度是民法中“公平原则”与保险法“补偿愿则”所奥合而成的必然产物,其民事本质为法定的债权转移。在该定性的前提下,对中国现行立法中的相关规定加以解释梳理,结合司法实践对保险代位求偿制度在英美法系和大陆法系下的不同进行比较分析,并从民法的角度对该制度加以完善,以求解决实践中可能出现的问题。     

试论方法特征限定的产品权利要求的撰写形式与保护范围

方法特征限定的产品权利要求是指产品权利要求的技术方案部分或者全部由方法特征进行限定。对于这类权利要求,各国对于其可专利性存在不同的规定;对于方法特征对整个权利要求的保护范围所产生的影响也存在不同看法;在专利侵权诉讼中应当如何分配举证责任也存在不同的做法。通过研究目前国际上的各种相关规定,对于方法特征限定的产品权利要求进行理论和实践上的分析,尝试提出解决上述问题的方法。     

The Construction of Terms of Facultative Reinsurance Contracts: is Wasa v Lexington the Exception or the Rule?

Do reinsurers insure the liability faced by the reinsured under its original insurance contract? Where the reinsurance and direct insurance policies are written in identical terms, is it enough for the reinsured to prove its liability under the original insurance policy in order to make a successful claim against its reinsurers? These questions are crucial, because they determine whether the terms of the reinsurance are to be construed identically to those of the direct policy even though they have different governing laws. The issues came before the House of Lords in Wasa International Insurance Co Ltd v Lexington Insurance Co [2009] UKHL 40 and the answers were provided in a judgment delivered on 30 July 2009, the last day of the operation of the House of Lords as a court. This note discusses the nature of facultative reinsurance contracts in the light of their Lordships' ruling.     

论基于他物权的物权请求权

物权请求权是一种独立类型的请求权。它包括基于所有权的请求权和基于他物权的请求权。物权请求权是对他物权进行保护的重要制度之一。用益物权和担保物权在物权请求权制度上具有各自的特征和适用上的差异。本文详细探讨了基于地上权、地役权、典权、抵押权、质权、留置权等他物权的物权请求权的构成要件、效力内容、特征等。     

论我国商业医疗保险中最大诚信原则的适用

目前我国商业医疗保险的发展进入了关键阶段,由于其保险标的的特殊性,决定了最大诚信原则在商业医疗保险中的重要作用,本文就最大诚信原则在商业医疗保险发展中的若干法律问题略抒拙见,以期抛砖引玉。     

侵权债权在破产程序中的优先受偿顺位建构——基于“给最少受惠者最大利益”的考量

破产法的公平理念以及侵权债权的非自愿属性,决定侵权债权具有从现行破产法所规定的普通破产债权中分立出来,并优先于一般交易债权受偿的正当性。基于侵权债权类型化以及罗尔斯的公平的正义理念——给最少受惠者最大利益,侵权债权在区分人身侵权债权和财产侵权债权的基础上,应做以下受偿顺位安排:破产费用和公益债务之外,人身侵权债权——工资债权和社会保险费用——劳动补偿金债权——财产侵权债权——国家税收——一般交易债权。人身侵权债权甚至有可能优先于担保债权,如果担保债权的设立发生于人身侵权债权产生之后。社会强制责任保险费用债权视其保障范围可以先于人身侵权债权或财产侵权债权。     

Retroactive liability and the insurability of long-tail risks

This article focuses on a specific aspect of liability insurance that arises out of the latent nature of certain insured events. In particular, it is concerned with the fact that in the interval between the original tort and the claim for damages the standard of care applied by the courts may change. This is the problem of retroactive liability. The article begins by briefly reviewing the legal background to the retrospective application of liability rules. Then it formally addresses the question of how retroactive liability can be reconciled with the goals of tort law and whether retroactive liability is insurable.     

初论续保条款——以英国海上保险法为视角

“续保条款”是海上保险合同中特有的规定.该条款意在对海上保险合同承保风险之外的风险向被保险人提供保障,因此续保条款的规定对于被保险人一方是有利的.以英国海上保险市场为背景,具体阐述续保条款的法律内涵,分析与续保条款相关的重要法律理论问题,同时通过援引经典案例,探求续保条款在保险实务中的问题并提出可行性建议,借以指导保险实践活动.     

Using after-the-event insurance and conditional fee agreements in defending weak IP claims

Legal context: As the cost of IP litigation increases, the cost of defendinga claim can be prohibitive, even if the defendant is ultimatelysuccessful. In this article, the authors consider how after-the-event(‘ATE’) insurance and conditional fee agreements(‘CFA’) can be used in IP disputes. Key points: The authors describe a recent innovative ATE insurance product,explain how ATE insurance and CFAs can be applied to IP disputes,and explain how a combination of ATE insurance and a CFA canput the defendant in a very strong position, with a high degreeof certainty of costs. Practical significance: The fact that a party has obtained offers of ATE insurance and/ora CFA indicates to the other side that (i) its solicitors areconfident of succeeding, (ii) it has obtained a favourable counsel'sopinion; and (iii) there is likely to be a substantial disparityin each side's potential costs. This gives rise to a usefuladditional benefit of a tactical advantage given to the defendant,which may lead to an early settlement on terms favourable tothe defendant.