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Court Curtails Forum Shopping: NJ Supreme Court's Sensient Decision Confirms Recent Trend of Other State Courts
When the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed the Appellate Division's decision in Sensient v. Allstate Insurance Company last month, it provided a final seal of approval to what previously had been an ever-expanding scope of jurisdiction over the interpretation of insurance policies relating to possible coverage of environmental remediation within New Jersey's borders. The court's decision was the latest in what appears to be a national jurisprudential trend toward rejecting traditional principles of comity in the context of parallel actions in sister jurisdictions pertaining to environmental contamination.
The Sensient Case
Sensient involved the EPA's remediation of a former manufacturing site in Camden. When the EPA served the plaintiff owner with a demand for reimbursement of cleanup costs in 2004, the owner tendered the claim to its insurers, seeking indemnification and contribution under various CGL insurance policies that had been issued over the course of multiple years. One of those carriers, Zurich American, filed a pre-emptive declaratory judgment action in New York, the jurisdiction from which the policy was brokered, seeking a determination that it had no duty to either defend or indemnify the plaintiff with respect to any cleanup costs at the Camden site. Zurich premised its argument on the absolute pollution exclusion contained in its policy with the plaintiff. Two months later, the plaintiff filed a declaratory judgment of its own in New Jersey, advancing claims not only for declaratory relief, but for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing as well.
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Stranger to the Deed Rule
In 1987, a unanimous Court of Appeals reaffirmed the vitality of the "stranger to the deed" rule, which holds that if a grantor executes a deed to a grantee purporting to create an easement in a third party, the easement is invalid. Daniello v. Wagner, decided by the Second Department on November 29th, makes it clear that not all grantors (or their lawyers) have received the Court of Appeals' message, suggesting that the rule needs re-examination.