In OneBeacon Amer. Ins. Co. v. Urban Outfitters, 2015 WL 5333845 (3d. Cir. Sept. 15, 2015), the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that three underlying class action lawsuits filed against Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, Inc. did not allege “personal and advertising injury.” The Third Circuit held that for Coverage B “oral or written publication, in any manner, of material that violates person’s right of privacy,” (1)“privacy” refers only to the right of secrecy, not the right of seclusion; (2) “publication” requires dissemination of information to the public at large, and (3) “in any manner” does not modify or change the meaning of “publication” to a lesser standard.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I represented OneBeacon America in the litigation with my colleagues at White and Williams LLP. The facts of the matter are straightforward.