Setting the Standard
PCKB News
Rick Pinto has been selected a North Carolina Super Lawyer® in Insurance Coverage, an honor he has repeated every year since 2006.
Rick Pinto has been selected as one of the Best Lawyers in America®. This is the fourth straight year he has been so selected.
Rick Pinto has been appointed a State Representative for the Counsel on Litigation Management. The Council on Litigation Management (CLM) is a nonpartisan alliance of corporations, insurance companies, law firms, and service providers committed to furthering the highest standards of litigation management. It is a collaborative organization seeking to further the practice of litigation management through educational programs, fostering communication and collaboration, and providing resources to the defense industry.
Rick Pinto has just completed a six-year appointment as Chair of the Greensboro Board of Adjustment.
Rick Pinto and David Brown recently appeared in the Super Lawyers® Corporate Counsel edition as North Carolina Super Lawyers in the area of Insurance Coverage. Only seven lawyers in North Carolina appeared in this category and PCKB was the only firm in North Carolina to have multiple attorneys recognized in the Insurance Coverage practice area.
Ken Kyre has been selected as a North Carolina Super Lawyer® in Civil Litigation Defense, with this being his fourth straight year so selected. He has also been selected as a North Carolina Super Lawyer® (Corporate Counsel Edition) in Civil Litigation Defense.
Ken Kyre's article entitled "Comparative Fault, Several Liability, and House Bill 813" appeared in the March 2010 issue of The Litigator, the newsletter of the Litigation Section of the North Carolina Bar Association.
Paul Coates has been selected as one of the Best Lawyers in America®. This is the third straight year he has been selected.
David Brown has been selected as a North Carolina Super Lawyer® in Insurance Law, and he, too, has been so selected for multiple years.
Additionally, David Brown has been selected as one of the Best Lawyers in America® in Insurance Law.
A PCKB client recently prevailed in the Supreme Court of North Carolina in the extremely significant insurance coverage case of Harleysville Mutual Insurance Co. v. Buzz Off Insect Shield LLC, 364 N.C. 1, 692 S.E.2d 605 (2010). PCKB represented Harleysville Mutual Insurance company in this case which addressed whether a commercial general liability (CGL) insurer owed a duty to defend its insured against a case alleging trademark infringement and Lanham Act claims. This is the first case from the North Carolina Supreme Court addressing the scope of coverage under the "personal and advertising injury" section (Coverage B) of a CGL policy. This was also the first time in over 20 years that the Supreme Court of North Carolina has addressed the "duty to defend" standard in a liability insurance policy.
In a thorough opinion that analyzed the underlying complaint and applicable law from North Carolina and around the country, the Supreme Court held that Harleysville had no duty to defend its insured in the underlying action. The trademark infringement claims were not covered and the federal Lanham Act claims asserted against the insured were barred from coverage by exclusions in the CGL policy. Specifically, the Lanham Act claims that the insured misrepresented the efficacy of its own products in its advertisements were barred by the "failure to conform" exclusion in the CGL policy. In ruling for Harleysville, the Court also rejected the insured's argument that a duty to defend should attach based on a "possibility of coverage." Rather, the Court held that a liability insurer owed a duty to defend its insured only if a covered claim was actually alleged against the insured. The unanimous opinion of the Court was written by Justice Paul Newby. David Brown, Martha Brown, and John Malone authored the briefs filed by Harleysville with the Supreme Court, and David Brown argued the case before the Supreme Court.
Another PCKB client recently obtained a dismissal of a case filed against it in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. The case is Dorman v. Grain Dealers Mutual Insurance Co., No. 1:09CV268, 2010 WL 1462557 (W.D.N.C. April 13, 2010). PCKB defended Grain Dealers Mutual Insurance Company in this suit filed under a commercial property insurance policy after a fire destroyed the insured's property. The Court held that the claims against Grain Dealers were barred by the statute of limitations contained in the Grain Dealers policy. The case is significant because the insured argued that Grain Dealers had waived the statute of limitations by its conduct in handling the claim. However, the Court rejected this argument, holding that Grain Dealers' claims handling conduct was in full compliance with applicable North Carolina law and thus did not lead to a waiver of any policy defenses. U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger authored the opinion, in which he adopted the Memorandum and Recommendation of U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis Howell. David Brown and Jon Ward authored the briefs filed by Grain Dealers with the Court, and David Brown argued the case before the Court.
Another PCKB client recently won summary judgment in a case filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. That case is Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co. v. Robin Hood Container Express, Inc., No. 5:08CV531, 2010 WL 2382505 (E.D.N.C. June 14, 2010). PCKB represented Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Company ("Penn National") in this case. The Penn National insured was sued in U.S. District Court in South Carolina for environmental clean up costs under CERCLA in connection with a piece of property located in South Carolina. U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle ruled that Penn National owed no duty to defend that case based on the pollution exclusion in the Penn National CGL policy. The Court also dismissed the insured's bad faith claims against Penn National. The case is perhaps most significant because of the Court's decision to apply North Carolina law. The insured argued that South Carolina law should govern the coverage dispute because the CERCLA case involved property located in South Carolina. However, the Court held that North Carolina law applied because the Penn National insured is based in North Carolina and the insurance contract was entered in North Carolina. Under North Carolina law, the pollution exclusion barred all coverage for the CERCLA claim. David Brown and Brady Yntema wrote the briefs filed by Penn National with the Court, and David Brown argued the case before the Court.
David Brown spoke in May at a Council on Litigation Management seminar to insurance claims professionals in Charlotte, NC. The seminar focused on ethical and appropriate billing and litigation management practices.
Martha Brown has been selected by the Business North Carolina magazine as a member of the "Legal Elite."
In May Deb Bowers gave a talk to the Guilford Paralegal Association on the topic of "Construction Defect Litigation - The Nuts and Bolts."
John Malone and David Harris, representing the plaintiff Builders Mutual Insurance Company, were successful on an appeal by the defendant to the North Carolina Court of Appeals in Builders Mutual Ins. Co. v. Glascarr Properties, Inc., ____N.C. App.____, 688 S.E.2d 508 (2010). Builders Mutual had filed an action for declaratory judgment, seeking a declaration that a builders risk insurance policy excluded the defendant developer's claim for remediation of mold discovered after Builders Mutual paid a water damage claim. The Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's entry of judgment on the pleadings for Builders Mutual, holding that the insurance policy's anti-concurrent causation clause regarding mold precluded coverage.
