Utica First Insurance Co. is fighting lawsuits from a Christmas morning fire in Stamford, Connecticut, that resulted in the death of five people. They're arguing that the contractor hired to renovate the house that caught fire "misrepresented the type and scope of work he did," and that had the insurance company been properly informed, they wouldn't have issued coverage.

Yesterday Progressive filed patent infringement lawsuits against State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance and Hartford Financial Services, alleging the rival insurers were infringing on three patents related to monitoring vehicle usage and utilizing that data to help determine insurance rates. Business Week reports that both complaints were filed in a Cleveland federal court and “the complaints target Hartford’s ‘TrueLane’ and State Farm’s ‘Drive Safe & Save’ initiatives.”

Last week Ability Insurance was ordered to pay Arlene Hull a whopping $34.3 million after refusing to pay the 90-year old customer's nursing home bills. A Montana jury unanimously decided that Ability had breached its contract with Hull and awarded punitive damage payouts. Montana state law caps such payouts, so Hull could potentially only end up receiving $12.3 million of the $34.3 million settlement.

Online entertainment hub and video streaming site Hulu is being sued by its insurer, Hartford Casualty Insurance Company, over a coverage dispute. Hulu has constantly been battling class-action claims that the site keeps dropping cookies on their users that reappear even after browsers are cleared. Hulu expected Hartford Casualty to provide coverage for these claims but the insurance company is arguing that its "bodily injury and property damage" coverage doesn't apply to Hulu's situation, and they're suing to seek confirmation of their argument.