Affirmative Disclosure of Insurance Agreements, by Michael Lowry, Compelling Discovery Blog

 http://www.compellingdiscovery.com/?p=2070

[T]he Supreme Court interpreted this section in Vanguard Piping v. Dist. Ct., 129 Nev. Adv. Op 63 (2013). Some parties, usually sophisticated ones, will have more than one insurance policy for a particular loss. For instance, a party might have a primary policy, then an excess policy and then an umbrella policy after that. The reason for the multiple layers is to maximize protection while hopefully taking advantage of the premium differences that arise from the varying risk exposure at different levels.

Vanguard Piping is apparently one of those sophisticated parties that has multiple layers of insurance. It apparently disclosed the layer of insurance that would have covered the losses alleged in the suit, but refused to disclose anything further. Regardless of whether this was appropriate for practical considerations, the Supreme Court ultimately concluded the literal language of the rule required far more.