Articles by Richard Wolf

image of Richard WolfRichard B. Wolf is a partner in the Los Angeles office of the nationwide law firm of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP. Since 1970, Wolf has specialized in insurance coverage advice and litigation. He is a member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and serves on the panel of arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association (AAA).

Ambiguous Grant Of Collapse Coverage Construed In Policyholder’s Favor

Invoking the familiar insurance contract interpretation doctrine of California and other jurisdictions, that truly ambiguous policy wording must be construed against the insurer drafting it, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California decided on August 16, 2018 …

Auto Policy Delivery or Business Use Exclusion Held Ambiguous

Twice in the last four years American Access Casualty Company, a non-standard private passenger automobile insurer based in Downers Grove, Ill., has been judicially warned in decisions of intermediate appellate courts of two different states (Illinois and Indiana) that its …

Faulty Workmanship, Even if Charged as Negligence, Isn’t Fortuitous Enough to Be an “Occurrence” Under Liability Policy

Every once in a while, a court teaches us by judicial decision an entire chapter of insurance law lessons we can carry with us, secure in the knowledge that we can reason our way to the right result in insurance …

Court Waxes Shakespearean in Denying Property Insurance Claim for Counterfeit Wine

The California Court of Appeal began and ended its insurance coverage opinion of March 7, 2018 with the Bard’s wisdom. The court clearly got it right in denying property insurance coverage for the victim of counterfeit wine sales, and it …

Coinsurance and Other Insurance Policy Clauses Don’t Mix

In a methodically crafted decision filed January 18, 2018 on cross-motions for summary judgment, Stefan R. Underhill, judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, ruled that a business property insurance policy containing “Other Insurance” and …

Business Income Insurance Covers Continuing Expenses Without Reduction for Insured’s Operating Loss

It is typical for business income insurance, the modern version of business interruption coverage, to provide for two components of actual loss of business, namely (1) net profit or loss before income taxes that would have been earned or incurred …

Vacancy Exclusion Applies to Vandalism But Not Arson Loss

A federal court in Ohio, faced with the question of whether a vacancy exclusion applied in the case of arson, a matter of first impression in that state, attempted without success to get the answer from the Supreme Court of …

Products-Completed Operations Hazard Coverage Doesn’t Cover Liability Based on Negligent Professional Services

In a lawsuit brought by the Illinois city of Park Ridge against its liability insurer, involving the defense of alleged wrongs of city employees, the Appellate Court of Illinois refused to recognize emergency medical services as the city’s “work” under …

UM Policy Limits Turn on Number of ‘Accidents’ Caused by at Fault Motorist

Following a well-worn path of decisions from other states, the Supreme Court of Wyoming adopted the prevalent of three legal theories to decide the meaning of “any one accident” found in standardized Uninsured Motorist (UM) policy limit language of automobile …

No Duty to Defend, Indemnify in Ohio Molestation Claim Unless ‘Scope of the Allegations’ Test Met

Jodee Edwards had a home and auto insurance policy issued by insurer Encompass that excluded coverage for loss “arising out of sexual molestation, corporal punishment, or physical or mental abuse.” Edwards was sued in January, 2016 for negligent supervision of …