On November 25, 2009, the United States District Court for the Northern
District of California granted O&N client, Align Technology, Inc.’s
(ALGN), motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of whether its
liability insurer, Federal Insurance Company, owed it a duty to defend
in underlying litigation. The court’s decision turned on whether
or not an Intellectual Property (“IP”) Exclusion in the Federal
policy eliminated all potential for covered liability and, therefore,
Federal’s duty to defend. District Court Judge Ronald M. Whyte denied
Federal’s motion, and granted Align’s cross-motion, ruling
that Federal owed Align a duty to defend an underlying lawsuit and that
it had breached that duty.
Click Here to read the Court's ruling.