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Disparagement By Implication: Does an Insurer Owe a Duty to Defend?

By Chet A. Kronenberg and Colin H. Rolfs
January 30, 2013

General commercial liability policies often require an insurer to provide a defense for its insured against a claim that the insured's advertisements disparaged another company's products. An open issue is to what extent an insurer owes a duty to defend based on allegations of disparagement by implication. This situation arises most often when a competitor's product is not mentioned by name in the insured's advertising, but a negative reference is implied.

Two conflicting California appellate court decisions issued this year highlight the difficulty of determining when an insurer owes a duty to defend disparagement by implication claims. This article discusses the two divergent California decisions, as well as fact patterns that courts have generally agreed are (and are not) implied disparagement claims triggering an insurer's duty to defend.

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