Rukesh Korde’s commentary was included in a Law360 article gathering insurance lawyers’ insights on the top cases to watch in 2025.
Rukesh comments on Towers Watson & Co. v. National Union Fire Insurance Co.,
a four year old case between Towers Watson and its insurers over its D&O coverage, and the second time the parties have appeared before the Fourth Circuit to clarify the application of the policy's bump-up exclusions.
Rukesh points out that the bump-up exclusion was originally fairly limited, intending to address instances of problematic price collusion. "But we have seen in recent years a significant attempt by insurance companies to use that bump-up exclusion much more aggressively and to use it to limit coverage to a much larger array of securities class actions," he said.
In the piece, Rukesh also explained how a previous ruling holding that Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems 's bump-up exclusion did not apply to a $45.6 million proposed class action settlement may affect this case. He noted that the language of the contested policies in the Harman and Northrop cases differed, which may lead to different outcomes. "I think that the prior case will certainly have an impact on how Harman gets resolved — the court can't just ignore a prior decision," he said. "The harder question is how much weight the Harman court is going to put on Northrop Grumman."
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