Judy Selby

Judy Selby has more than 20 years of experience in large scale first- and third-party complex insurance coverage matters, providing a full range of services from opinion work, claims counseling, broker liability, settlement negotiations, arbitration and all phases of litigation. She also has given presentations about U.S. insurance coverage litigation to international insurance companies, lectured on the Bermuda Form insurance policy and publishes frequently on cyber insurance for data breaches. She also has successfully negotiated insurance coverage for class action lawsuits, avoiding the need for litigation.

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Sixth Circuit Affirms Certification and Summary Judgment for TCPA Class, Despite State Law Class Action Prohibition

By Judy Selby on Posted in Class Actions Privacy, Class Certification, Consumer Class Action, State Class Action Law, TCPA
On July 9, 2014, the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that a consumer TCPA class action could proceed against Lake City Industrial Products, rejecting Lake City’s argument that Michigan law prohibited TCPA class actions.  American Copper & Brass, Inc. v. Lake City Industrial Products, Inc., Case No. 13-2605, (6th Cir. 2014).  In addition, … Continue Reading

Clapper Again Stymies Data Breach Class Action

By Judy Selby on Posted in Class Action Trends, Class Actions Privacy, Data Breach
Editor’s Note: This blog post is a joint submission with BakerHostetler’s Data Privacy Monitor blog. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Clapper v. Amnesty International USA again has been relied on by a federal district court to hold that the “mere loss of data” in a data breach case does not constitute an injury sufficient to confer … Continue Reading

Once Again, Clapper Defeats Data Breach Class Action

By Judy Selby on Posted in Class Actions Privacy, Class Certification, Consumer Fraud, Data Breach, Rule 12 Motions to Dismiss, Standing
Article III standing has once again proved to be an insurmountable hurdle for data breach class action plaintiffs whose personal information hasn’t been misused.  In Galaria v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., an Ohio federal court relied on the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Clapper v. Amnesty Intern. USA, 133 S.Ct. 1138 (2013), and held … Continue Reading

Redial; Third Circuit Again Rules that TCPA Claims Are Not Covered Under a CGL Policy

By Judy Selby on Posted in TCPA
On January 9, 2014, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals again held that an insurance policy issued to class action defendants did not provide coverage for a claim brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).  Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. v. David Randall Associates, Inc., No. 13-1515 (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, … Continue Reading

New Jersey Federal Court Applies Supreme Court’s Clapper Decision and Dismisses Data Breach Class Action

By Judy Selby on Posted in Class Actions Privacy
Relying in part on the recent United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Clapper v. Amnesty International, a federal judge in New Jersey dismissed a putative data breach class action against three healthcare entities and a vendor retained by each the entities.  Bobbi Polanco v. Omnicell, Inc., Civ. No. 13-1417 (NLH/KMW) (December 26, 2013).  The defendants were Sentara … Continue Reading

Class Action Settlement Based on Voucher Payout Wins Preliminary Approval by California District Court

By Judy Selby on Posted in Class Action Fairness Act, Settlements
On November 5, 2013, a California federal district court preliminarily approved a revised coupon-based class action settlement agreement between plaintiffs and OfficeMax (see Order Granting Preliminary Approval of Revised Class Action Settlement Agreemeent).  As reported here in September, the court rejected a prior proposed settlement between the plaintiffs, who had accused OfficeMax of illegally recording … Continue Reading

Call Me, Maybe? A Nationwide Survey of Insurance Coverage for TCPA Class Actions

By Judy Selby on Posted in TCPA
Co-authored by: C. Zachary Rosenberg The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) restricts telephone solicitations and limits the use of automatic dialing systems, prerecorded voice messages, SMS text messages, and faxes.  TCPA plaintiffs typically claim that they received unwanted calls, texts or faxes in furtherance of telemarketing campaigns, and that their damages include the loss of ink … Continue Reading

Google is No Cookie Monster, says Delaware Federal Court

By Judy Selby on Posted in Class Actions Privacy
This post was co-authored by Julian D. Perlman and is a joint submission with BakerHostetler’s Data Privacy Monitor blog. In a decisive victory for Google and several co-defendants, a Delaware federal court dismissed the claims of a putative class of individuals who alleged that they were injured by Google’s practice of circumventing certain internet browsers’ cookie … Continue Reading

California Court Finds Advertising Injury Coverage is Triggered by Medical Information Data Breach

By Judy Selby on Posted in Data Breach, Insurance
On October 7, 2013, a federal district court in California held that the Advertising Injury coverage in a comprehensive general liability policy issued by Hartford Casualty Insurance Company (Hartford) covered two class action lawsuits arising out of the disclosure of confidential health information.  Hartford Casualty Insurance Company v. Corcino & Associates et al., CV 13-3728 … Continue Reading

Not Just Yet, Again…Class Action Plaintiff Fails in Second Bid to Access a TCPA Defendant’s Insurance Coverage

By Judy Selby on Posted in Insurance, TCPA
On October 7, 2013, a Missouri federal court judge held that a class action plaintiff that alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) lacked standing to seek coverage under the defendant’s insurance policies.  Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company v. Harris Medical Associates, LLC, No. 4:13-CV-7 CAS, United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri … Continue Reading

The Words Matter: No Insurance Coverage for Wage and Hour Class Action

By Judy Selby on Posted in Insurance
Despite finding that the syntax in its Employment Benefits Liability (EBL) endorsement was “not the best,” a California court of appeal held that Mid-Century Insurance Company did not owe a defense or indemnity to eight car dealerships for class action wage and hour claims brought by auto mechanics.  Mid-Century Insurance Company v. Robert Zamora et … Continue Reading

OfficeMax Class Action Zip Code Plaintiffs Again Seek Approval for Settlement and Attorney Fee Payment

By Judy Selby on Posted in Class Action Fairness Act, Settlements
Editor’s Note: This post is a joint submission with BakerHostetler’s Data Privacy Monitor blog. Lawyers representing a purported class of customers who accused retailer OfficeMax North America Inc. (OfficeMax) of illegally recording their zip codes tried again this week to gain court approval of a settlement deal agreed to with OfficeMax. Dardarian v. OfficeMax Inc., case number … Continue Reading

Class Action Plaintiffs Lack Standing under Clapper to Sue Barnes & Noble for Credit Card Data Breach

By Judy Selby on Posted in Class Actions Privacy, Data Breach
Relying heavily on the Supreme Court’s recent Clapper decision, a federal court dismissed a class action lawsuit arising out of a “skimming” data breach against Barnes & Noble (BN).  In re Barnes & Noble Pin Pad Litigation, Case # 12-cv-8617 (N.D.Ill. Sept. 3, 2013)  The plaintiffs filed suit against BN following its disclosure that “skimmers” potentially stole … Continue Reading

Class Action Claim for Excessive Fees is Not Covered by Bank’s Liability Policy

By Judy Selby on Posted in Insurance
A Georgia federal district court ruled on August 7th that a bank was not entitled to insurance coverage for class action claims based on its allegedly excessive overdraft fees.  Fidelity Bank v. Chartis Specialty Insurance Company, 1:12-CV-4259-RWS (US Dist. Ct. ND Ga, August 7, 2013). Customers filed a class action lawsuit against Fidelity Bank, claiming … Continue Reading

Defendants Must Keep Insurance Coverage Considerations in Mind When Settling Class Action Lawsuits

By Judy Selby on Posted in Insurance
On July 18, 2013, a Pennsylvania appellate court held that class action defendant Cigna Corporation (Cigna) was not entitled to insurance coverage for any part of a settlement it paid to plaintiffs because Cigna did not allocate the settlement between covered and excluded claims. Executive Risk Indemnity Inc. v. Cigna Corp., case no. 1117 EDA … Continue Reading

Not Just Yet: Class Action Plaintiff Cannot Access Defendant’s Insurance Coverage

By Judy Selby on Posted in Insurance, TCPA
On July 10, 2013, the Eastern District of Missouri Federal District Court refused to allow a class action plaintiff to directly access the defendant’s insurance coverage for plaintiff’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) claims while the TCPA class action lawsuit remained pending.  Evanston Insurance Company v. Harris Medical Associates, LLC, and St. Louis Heart Center, … Continue Reading

You’ve Got to Have Class: Assignment of Insurance Coverage Claim for TCPA Class Settlement Does Not Trigger CAFA Jurisdiction

By Judy Selby on Posted in Class Action Fairness Act
An Illinois federal district court recently remanded an insurance coverage case to state court, ruling that there was no jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) for the simple reason that the plaintiff did not purport to represent a class. Addison Automatics Inc. v. Hartford Casualty Insurance Co., Case No. 1:13-cv-01922 (June 25, 2013).  … Continue Reading

Second Circuit Requires Complete Reimbursement of Class Action Defense Costs

By Judy Selby on Posted in Insurance
On June 18, 2013, the Second Circuit affirmed that a liability insurer was obligated to reimburse Olin Corporation for 100% of the defense costs it incurred defending against environmental contamination class action claims.  Olin Corporation v. Century Indemnity Company, No. 11-4579-cv (2d Cir. 6/18/2013).  The court found that the duty to defend was triggered under … Continue Reading

Seventh Circuit Denies 26(f) Relief Allowing A Potentially Massive Privacy Class to Proceed to Trial in Harris v. comScore

By Judy Selby on Posted in Class Actions Privacy
This is a joint submission with BakerHostetler’s Data Privacy Monitor blog. As reported here in April, an Illinois federal district court certified a privacy class that could number tens of millions of plaintiffs in the case of Harris v. comScore.  The plaintiffs claimed that comScore, an online data research company, violated the Stored Communications Act, … Continue Reading

Illinois Supreme Court Finds Insurance Coverage for TCPA Claims under Traditional Liability Policies

By Judy Selby on Posted in Class Actions Privacy
This post is a joint submission with BakerHostetler’s Data Privacy Monitor blog. The Illinois Supreme Court held on May 23, 2013, that claims based on alleged violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Action (TCPA) are covered under traditional general liability policies.  Standard Mut. Ins. Co. v. Lay,  2013 IL 114617 (Ill. 2013).  In so ruling, the Court … Continue Reading

All of These Things Are Not Like the Others; Class Certification Denied in YouTube Case

By Judy Selby on Posted in Class Certification
When the judge deciding a motion for class certification begins his Opinion by describing the proposed class as a “Frankenstein monster,” you don’t need to be very prescient to predict the outcome of the motion. In The Football Association Premier League Limited v. YouTube, Inc., Judge Louis Stanton refused to certify a class of plaintiffs pursuing … Continue Reading

Courts Are Liberally Construing Litigation Insurance Coverage for Class Action Defenses and So Should Defendants

By Judy Selby on Posted in Class Action Trends, Class Certification, Insurance, Practice Pointers
Co-authored by: Zack Rosenberg Although the Supreme Court continues to set the bar for class certification higher and higher, plaintiffs’ attorneys continue to file class action lawsuits of questionable merit.  The litigation costs required to gain dismissal of even groundless lawsuits are not insubstantial, and a defendant’s inability to fund a vigorous defense can make … Continue Reading

20 Million Reasons Why Class Action Defendants Need to Read Their Insurance Policies Closely

By Judy Selby on Posted in Insurance, Practice Pointers
As previously noted in a recent blog post, defendants should immediately evaluate their insurance coverage upon receipt of a class action complaint.  But as one defendant recently discovered the hard way, that evaluation must be undertaken with great care.  In UnitedHealth Group Inc. v. Columbia Casualty Company et al., an insurer was able to avoid responsibility for its … Continue Reading

Insurance Coverage for Class Action Lawsuits

By Judy Selby on Posted in Insurance, Practice Pointers
Upon learning that his obituary had been published in the New York Times, Mark Twain famously quipped, “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”  The same can be said about class action lawsuit filings after the Supreme Court’s decisions in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011) (plaintiffs required to show … Continue Reading
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