Insights

Washington – January 2, 2020: Crowell & Moring elected eight lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2020. The firm also promoted seven attorneys to the position of senior counsel, and 26 associates to the position of counsel. The new partners have been promoted from within the ranks of the firm’s Washington, Los Angeles, and San Francisco offices. The new partners have been promoted from across offices and practice groups, including White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement, Health Care, International Trade, Intellectual Property, Privacy & Cybersecurity, Government Contracts, Litigation, and Antitrust.

On January 13, 2020, the United States Supreme Court rejected a petition for certiorari filed by New Jersey’s Montville Township Board of Education seeking review of an action in which it sought defense and indemnity coverage from its insurance carrier Zurich American Insurance Company for molestation claims. Both the Third Circuit and U.S. District Court in New Jersey had ruled in favor of the carrier, upholding the "prior acts" exclusion in the policy Zurich issued to Montville, and determining that the insurer had no duty to defend or indemnify the sexual molestation claims.

An August 7, 2018 report published by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) entitled “Reality Check” reviews existing technology involving partial automation, including some of its limitations. As the report makes clear, new vehicles with driver assistance technology can help drivers in performing certain tasks, but they cannot drive themselves, and continue to require the involvement of human drivers.