Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
Rare NY Court of Appeals Reversal
K2, located on the border between Pakistan and China, is the second-highest mountain in the world behind Mount Everest. Despite its secondary status, however, it is commonly regarded as the most dangerous peak to climb. It is perhaps an ironic coincidence, then, that in the widely reported decision K2 Investment Group, LLC v. American Guarantee & Liability Ins. Co., 21 N.Y.3d 384 (2013) (“K2-I“), the New York Court of Appeals placed in the path of insurers a very high and potentially dangerous new legal standard. Specifically, in the K2-I decision, New York's highest court transformed that state's insurance landscape when it held that an insurer who breaches its duty to defend is precluded from later relying on its policy exclusions in litigation over its indemnity obligation.
Less than three months after rendering its decision, however, the Court of Appeals retraced its path and agreed to rehear K2-I. Upon rehearing, the court found that K2-I improperly departed from well-established New York insurance law and could not be reconciled with existing precedent. Thus, in a rare self-reversal, the court has corrected its decision and returned New York insurance law to its previous state of more level ground. As a result, insurers no longer face potentially automatic liability if they breach their duty to defend a policyholder.
Background
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.
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.
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.