(Article from Insurance Law Alert, April 2025)
For more information, please visit the Insurance Law Alert Resource Center.
Bryce Friedman, Head of the Firm’s Insurance Litigation Practice, was quoted in a Bloomberg Law article, which explored how disputes over insurance coverage in opioid lawsuits are leading some courts to conclude that public nuisance claims are not covered accidents under commercial liability insurance policies. Addressing a recent California federal court decision in this context, Bryce explained: “If you market a product for use in a way you know is going to hurt people, that’s not an accident. . . . It’s really a line-drawing exercise.” Bryce also noted that “[t]his will continue to come up in cases which focus on marketing and distribution of products that get used in a way, overused, or otherwise cause societal harm, whether it’s guns, or opioids, or video games.”
Summer Craig participated in the Practicing Law Institute’s “Property and Casualty Insurance Law 2025” program on April 2 in New York. Summer spoke on a panel titled “PFAS: Insurance Coverage and Disputes,” which included discussion of complex policy provisions addressing environmental pollution claims and PFAS claims. The panelists explained recent developments in PFAS-related regulation and underlying litigation, and explored exclusions and coverage gaps in traditional insurance policies, among other topics.
Bryce Friedman and Chet Kronenberg, along with associate Benjamin Malings, authored an article titled, “Don’t Let an Anchor Drag Down the Defense at Trial,” which was published by the New York Law Journal. The article discussed the practice of anchoring in litigation and its use by plaintiffs’ counsel to obtain excessive non-economic damages awards. The article also described strategic responses to anchoring tactics, including exposing the anchor, proposing a counter-anchor, and attempting to overturn excessive verdicts stemming from anchoring through post-trial motions or appeals.