Tag: insurance

  • Jury Finds for Heinz in Lead-Tainted Baby Food Insurance Coverage Dispute

    A Pennsylvania jury has found that Starr Surplus Lines Insurance must uphold H.J. Heinz Co.’s $25 million policy covering damages related to baby cereal tainted with lead. H.J. Heinz Co. v. Starr Surplus Lines Ins. Co., No. 15-0631 (W.D. Penn., jury verdict entered December 16, 2015). Heinz sought a declaratory judgment that the insurance provider…

  • Court Finds Insurer Must Cover Foster Farms’ Salmonella Losses

    A California federal court has granted Foster Farms’ request for declaratory judgment finding that Lloyd’s of London must cover $14 million in costs related to a Salmonella outbreak linked to Foster Farms’ chicken processing facilities. Foster Poultry Farms Inc. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London, No. 14-0446 (E.D. Cal., order entered October 9, 2015). Foster…

  • Insurance Co. Seeks Declaration to Avoid Possible “All Natural” Putative Class Action Payout

    Months after a Florida federal court rejected a motion to dismiss a putative class action alleging that Bodacious Foods falsely labeled its cookies as “all natural,” The Cincinnati Insurance Co. has filed a lawsuit seeking a declaration that the policy the food manufacturer holds with it does not cover costs stemming from the alleged false…

  • Eighth Circuit Says Likelihood of MSG to Cause Harm Is Factual Matter

    In a dispute over commercial liability insurance coverage, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a trial court erred in deciding, as a matter of law, that a recall of sausage breakfast sandwiches prompted by contamination with monosodium glutamate (MSG) was a covered incident. Hot Stuff Foods, LLC v. Houston Cas. Co., Nos. 14-1192,…

  • Foster Farms Sues Insurers over Definition of “Recall”

    Poultry manufacturer Foster Farms has filed an amended complaint in its lawsuit against its Lloyd’s of London insurers, which had rejected its $14.2 million claim for economic losses resulting from a government-mandated shutdown of one of its facilities. Foster Poultry Farms Inc. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London, No. 14–953 (E.D. Cal., amended complaint filed July…

  • Settlement Reached in Coverage Dispute for Four Loko Maker

    The company that makes Four Loko, a caffeinated malt liquor beverage allegedly responsible for the deaths of five consumers, has reached a settlement with two Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. units which had sought a declaration that a policy exclusion freed them from defending or indemnifying the beverage maker in the underlying lawsuits. The Netherlands Ins.…

  • Seventh Circuit Says No Duty to Defend Four Loko® Maker

    The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that Phusion Projects’ commercial liability insurance carriers have no duty to defend the company in actions alleging that intoxication attributable to consumption of its Four Loko® alcoholic product caused death and personal injury. Netherlands Ins. Co. v. Phusion Projects, Inc., No. 12-1355 (7th Cir., decided December 16,…

  • Court Considers Insurance Coverage for Listeria Contamination

    A federal court in Ohio has determined that, for the most part, an “all-risk” insurance policy excludes from coverage the losses sustained by a meat processor whose products were contaminated with Listeria during processing. HoneyBaked Foods, Inc. v. Affiliated FM Ins. Co., No. 08-01686 (N.D. Ohio, W. Div., decided December 2, 2010). Still, the court ordered…