BatesCarey partner Matthew Fortin examines the quarter’s most significant Illinois insurance law developments in his recent article for Law360. His review covers the Illinois Supreme Court's landmark ruling on the pollution exclusion in commercial general liability policies, two Illinois Department of Insurance bulletins addressing public adjuster practices, and the Seventh Circuit's rejection of a novel "super excess" theory of liability coverage.

Key takeaways from the article include:

• In Griffith Foods International v. National Union Fire Insurance Co., the Illinois Supreme Court held that whether an insured's emissions are authorized by regulatory permit is irrelevant to whether a standard-form CGL pollution exclusion bars coverage, resolving uncertainty left by the 2011 appellate ruling in Erie Insurance Exchange v. Imperial Marble Crop and reaffirming Koloms as the governing framework.
• Company Bulletin 2026-01 directed property and casualty insurers to review their claims handling practices, clarifying that public adjusters should only be named as co-payees or receive claims checks directly when the public adjuster's contract with the insured expressly authorizes it.
• Company Bulletin 2026-02 warned Illinois public adjusters that engaging unlicensed third parties to generate client leads violates the Illinois Public Adjuster Law, rendering any contract even partially solicited by an unlicensed person void and potentially exposing adjusters to civil and criminal liability.
• In Great West Casualty Co. v. Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Co., the Seventh Circuit rejected the argument that policy language describing coverage as "excess over any other collectible insurance" created a never-before-recognized "super excess" tier, finding the language reflected ordinary drafting redundancy and that both insurers shared equal payment priority proportionate to their limits.

Together, these developments offer practical guidance for insurers, policyholders, and legal practitioners navigating CGL coverage disputes, regulatory compliance in claims handling, and the interpretation of competing "other insurance" clauses in Illinois.

Click here for the full article. 

Matt Fortin is a partner who has spent his career investigating, litigating, and advising clients on first-party insurance matters.