Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog

In today’s digital world, data breaches due to vendor failures are becoming increasingly common, often resulting in costly fallout. While insurance can provide a safety net, the interaction between cyber insurance and vendor contracts is crucial for effective recovery and risk management. Vendor contracts should not be treated as mere formalities but as vital frameworks that contain specific, detailed provisions regarding data security obligations to ensure accountability and minimize vulnerabilities.

The landscape of college athletics is undergoing a seismic shift with the rise of name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights. As student-athletes gain the ability to monetize their personal brands, a new era of opportunity—and liability—is expanding far beyond the athletes. In addition to the student-athletes, NIL stakeholders include universities, athletic conferences and organizations, sponsors, and the athletes’ families, among others. Whether the goal is to guard against emerging liabilities or protect the NIL revenue stream itself, stakeholders should consider both traditional and specialty lines of insurance. Here’s what you need to know.

Theft in the cargo industry has skyrocketed in recent years. In the first half of 2024, cargo thefts rose 49 percent and the average loss per shipment by 83 percent. Given these dramatic spikes in cargo theft, policyholders whose operations rely on the safe transportation and trade of cargo should take steps to mitigate against the potential losses of a cargo-theft event. We discuss below the insurance coverage options available to policyholders that can help protect against the risks and losses associated with cargo-related theft if such a loss occurs.

The recent California federal court decision Scottsdale Ins. Co. v. Beachcomber Mgmt. Crystal Cove, LLC, et al. illustrates the perils that corporate policyholders may face in obtaining the full benefit of the bargain when they procure new D&O insurance after making a claim under a prior policy.  2025 WL 257599, at *13 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 21, 2025).  In Scottsdale, the court agreed that an insurer who sold a D&O policy could deny coverage for a lawsuit filed against two corporate executives during its policy period because that lawsuit involved some of the same allegations of wrongdoing as did a claim the policyholder previously submitted to a former D&O insurer.  The new policy contained a very broadly worded “prior notice exclusion” that barred coverage for all claims “in any way involving” any wrongful conduct, facts, circumstances, or situations as to which notice had been given to a prior D&O insurer.  

In ExxonMobil Corp. v. Natl. Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, PA, the Texas Supreme Court held that an insurance policy did not incorporate the payout limits of an underlying service agreement and thus the insured was entitled to the higher limits under the insurance policy. 2023 WL 2939596, at *1 (Tex. Apr. 14, 2023).