CM Report of Recent Decisions – 2016 Vol. 3

Articles in this report

Sidebar: Illinois Supreme Court Strikes A Blow For The Illinois Defense Bar—6-Person Juror Law Held Unconstitutional 

In Volume 4 of our 2014 CM Report, CM partners Scott Ritchie and Sava Vojcanin alerted our friends in the industry to a new piece of legislation reducing the number of jurors in trials from 12 to 6.

SPECIAL ALERT–FOCUS ON INDIANA: Indiana Supreme Court Clarifies Duty Owed By Social Hosts And Defines “Foreseeability”

In Rogers vs. Martin, No. 02505-1603-CT-114, the Indiana Supreme Court sought to clarify the scope of the duty owed by a social host to a guest and in so doing “charted a definitive path” by defining foreseeability in the context of a duty analysis.

A Fire Storm Of Bad Faith

In today’s competitive market place, developing and protecting confidential information is critical to a company’s survival and growth. Confidentiality agreements and covenants not-to-complete are of some assistance at the start of a relationship, but an employee that subsequently steals confidential information to start a new business or sell to a competitor must be prosecuted swiftly. 

Products Exclusions Bar Coverage For “Pill Mill” Claims Against Pharmaceutical Distributors

The Eleventh Circuit holds that two insurers have no duty to defend pharmaceutical distributor insureds in a West Virginia lawsuit alleging that the companies contributed to a prescription drug abuse epidemic, finding that the policies’ products exclusions clearly exclude coverage for claims tied to the companies’ pharmaceuticals.

TCPA Exclusion Found Also To Apply To Conversion And Fraud Claims

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), 47 U.S.C. § 227, prohibits the transmitting of unsolicited advertisements by facsimile, and imposes statutory damages of $500 per violation. Where a CGL policy contains an exclusion for TCPA liability, the question sometimes arises whether that exclusion also will apply to a plaintiff’s other causes of action based on the same conduct.

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