American Tooling and Medidata: The Latest Rulings on Coverage for Phishing Scams
“Phishing” is a scheme in which criminals use spoofed e-mails, copycat websites, or other deceptive communications to trick unwitting companies or individuals into sharing valuable personal information or into wiring money to sham bank accounts. As these schemes become unfortunately more common and sophisticated, companies are increasingly turning to their insurance policies to cover their monetary losses. However, many businesses that have purchased crime insurance to cover this type of “computer fraud” may not realize that e-mail-based thefts are not always covered. Businesses may reasonably assume that coverage exists under a crime insurance policy covering computer fraud because the loss is computer related, but insurance companies will likely insist on proof of a direct causal relationship between the computer fraud and the loss of funds before providing coverage.
The American Tooling case is the most recent pronouncement from the courts on “computer fraud” coverage. On July 13, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of the policyholder and reversed the Michigan district court’s grant of summary judgment to Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America.
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