Hunton Insurance attorneys Syed Ahmad and Geoffrey Fehling provided several updates on recent recall insurance disputes in the most recent edition of the Recall Roundup, posted on the Hunton Retail Law Resource Blog.
Continue Reading Insurer Seeks to Escape Coverage for Recalled Cookie Butter Jars; Poultry Distributor Settles Contamination Claim With Excess Insurer

Earlier this month, the California Supreme Court agreed to review Montrose Chemical Corporation’s appeal from a September appellate court ruling that rejected Montrose’s preferred “vertical exhaustion” method of exhausting excess-layer policies in favor of a policy-by-policy review to determine which policies are triggered. The California high court’s grant of Montrose’s petition for review is potentially significant in clarifying the appropriate excess policy exhaustion trigger under California law, not to mention in addressing a significant insurer defense in Montrose’s longstanding coverage dispute over environmental insurance coverage, which has been winding its way through California courts for more than 25 years.
Continue Reading California Supreme Court to Review Policy Exhaustion in Chemical Manufacturer Coverage Dispute

Attorneys Syed Ahmad and Jennifer White contributed to the Hunton Retail Law Resource’s “Recall Roundup” for the month of March with a discussion a new cases in the world of recall-related insurance coverage litigation, including a new case filed by a policyholder against its insurance broker alleging that the broker was liable for misrepresentations in

Product recalls are on the rise in many industries. As regulatory and consumer protection standards are getting tougher, product supply chains are becoming more complex. This increases the risk of errors, defects and contamination at all levels of operation. Too often, these problems do not manifest themselves until after a product hits the market. All of this can lead to staggering expenses for food and product manufacturers facing the risks and realities of product recalls.
Continue Reading Product Recalls: Keeping Your Insurance Coverage Intact

Attorneys Syed Ahmad and Jennifer White contributed to the Hunton Retail Law Resource’s “Recall Roundup” for the month of February with a discussion of Starr Surplus Lines Insurance Company’s suit against CRF Frozen Foods, LLC.  Starr seeks to rescind the a product contamination policy based on allegations that, during the insurance application process, CRF failed to disclose “violations” identified by Washington State and federal inspectors which, Starr claims, were likely to give rise to CRF’s 2016 recall of frozen vegetables.  See Starr Surplus Lines Ins. Co. v. CRF Frozen Foods, LLC, No. 1:17-cv-01030 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 10, 2017). Starr’s suit comes on the heels of its success before the Third Circuit earlier this year, when the court affirmed Starr’s rescission of the accidental contamination policy issued to Heinz.  Read more about the case.
Continue Reading Insurance Coverage for Frozen Food Recall Tops Off Hunton’s “Recall Roundup” for February