On Friday, July 21, 2017, McKool Smith secured a Summary Judgment ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York which allows Medidata Solutions Inc. to access coverage under a Federal Insurance Co. commercial crime insurance policy for a $4.8 million loss that the company suffered as a result of a computer fraud incident.
The decision is one of the first involving coverage for email “spoofing,” a threat faced by many companies, in which fraudulent transfers of money are induced by emails to employees that appear to be from the email accounts of senior company officers, but are sent by the perpetrators of the fraud with replies routed back to accounts the perpetrators control. The court denied Federal’s cross-motion for summary judgment and held that Medidata established entitlement to summary judgment that its loss was covered under both the Policy’s (1) Computer Fraud Coverage, and (2) Funds Transfer Fraud Coverage. The decision can be found here.
The case is Medidata Solutions Inc. v. Federal Insurance Co., case number 1:15-cv-00907, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
