NJ Takes the Lead on Another Environmental Coverage Issue: Allocation Choice of Law
In one of the nation's first and most comprehensive allocation choice-of-law decisions, a court recently rejected insurers' claims that allocation law of the forum applies to property damage arising at multiple environmental sites if the policyholder's coverage action is venued in New Jersey. The decision was rendered in four companion environmental coverage cases involving a common choice-of-law issue. <i>See General Electric Co., as successor in interest to RCA Corp. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's London,</i> Docket No. MER-L-4931-87 c/w MER-L-6432-88 (Law Div. Mar. 25, 2004), <i>reconsid. den.,</i> (Law Div. May 12, 2004) (hereinafter "<i>RCA</i>"); <i>Home Ins. Co. v. Cornell-Dubilier Electronics, Inc.,</i> Docket No. MER- L-5192-96 c/w MER-L-2773-02 (Law Div. Mar. 25, 2004), <i>reconsid. den.,</i> (Law Div. May 12, 2004); <i>Sterling Winthrop, Inc. v. Royal Indem. Ins. Co.</i>, Docket No. MER-L-101-94 c/w MER-L-106-94 (Law Div. Mar. 25, 2004); <i>Rohm & Haas Co. v. Allianz Underwriters, Inc.,</i> Docket No. MER-L-4920-87 c/w MER-L-4664-95 (collectively, the "<i>Companion Cases</i>"). The court concluded that the law of the state in which each waste site is located presumptively applies to the allocation of damages. This decision, now the subject of pending appeals, is likely to reach New Jersey's Supreme Court because it was rendered in "high stakes" cases, and it has broad application to many other environmental coverage actions. If the Supreme Court ultimately takes up the matter ' something the court has demonstrated a willingness to do in connection with other challenging coverage issues (<i>see, eg, Spaulding Composites Co. v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co.,</i> 176 N.J. 25, 819 A.2d 410 (2003) (granting leave for interlocutory appeal regarding inapplicability of non-cumulation clause); <i>Pfizer, Inc. v. Employers Ins. of Wausau,</i> 154 N.J. 187, 721 A.2d 634 (1998) (granting leave for interlocutory appeal regarding choice-of-law governing interpretation of pollution exclusion); <i>Carter-Wallace v. Admiral Ins. Co.,</i> 154 N.J. 312, 712 A.2d 1116 (1998) (granting interlocutory appeal regarding allocation) ' it will be the highest state court in the nation to resolve an allocation choice-of-law dispute in a multistate, multisite environmental coverage action.
A Primer on Insurance Options for Intellectual Property
In the last several years, a number of insurance companies including Chubb, AIG, InsureTrust (through Lloyd's of London), Venture Programs, Intellectual Property Risk Management ("IPRM"), and Litigation Risk Management, Inc. ("LRM") have begun offering insurance that pays costs associated with infringement of patents only, or infringement of some combination or all of patents, trademarks, trade dress, copyrights and trade secrets. For purposes of this article we will refer to these polices covering intellectual property as "IP infringement policies." IP infringement policies vary by carrier and property covered. The following descriptions are necessarily general.
Case Briefs
Highlights of the latest insurance cases from around the country.
Finally, A Way to Really Recognize Your Paper!
As any attorney or support staff personnel will tell you, since the advent of affordable scanners and scanning devices, it has become a necessary evil to scan documents in the law office. The problem has always been the OCR'ing (optical character recognition) of those docs! For several years and many iterations and generations, the OCR programs have left a lot to be desired and have helped us to pull out what little hair we have left trying to capture our documents. <br>I have never been too impressed with the several OCR programs that have been available to the legal profession. That is to say not until now. I have finally found what I believe to be the easiest to use, yet the best for recognition OCR program in the marketplace.
Where Do We Go From Here?
The increasingly familiar category of "Matter Management" is a niche area in the world of legal technology that has attracted more interest from in-house legal departments and their outside law firms in recent years. It's a category with humble beginnings and dynamic changes ' both in terms of the companies that develop the software and in terms of the features enjoyed by the users. <br>This article takes a brief look at the origins and evolution of matter management technology, and then offer a provocative assessment of what the future holds. Ultimately, it challenges members of the legal technology community to think about what will become more important: fancy technology or software that's easy to use?
Electronic Filing: Is Your Firm Prepared?
As increasing numbers of law firms realize the benefits of electronic filing. And as more and more courts encourage ' and in many cases mandate ' its use ' law firms are moving quickly to adopt practices in order to prepare for ' and take full advantage of ' the e-filing revolution.
Is Your e-Discovery Provider Asking The Right Questions?
As most attorneys practicing in these days of high-tech tools and media-savvy clients know, electronic discovery can be a complex process, even for the experienced practitioner ' an undertaking fraught with variables, each of which singly, and certainly in legion, could change demands and expectations. Those changes, when they occur ' and it's invariably a matter of when, not if ' can confound parties to the e-discovery process, particularly when important information is missing.
