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Mealey's California Insurance

  • February 20, 2026

    Judge Finds Insurer Must Defend Paint Contractor In Suit Over Fire Damage

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California found that a commercial general liability insurer owed its insured paint contractor a duty to defend and indemnify it in underlying actions stemming from a fire that damaged property in San Francisco because there is “evidence that, at minimum, creates a material dispute of fact as to [the paint contractor’s] role in the fire at the Property.”

  • February 20, 2026

    Judge Strikes Motions For Reconsideration In Water Damage Coverage Dispute

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California issued docket-only orders striking a contractor’s commercial general liability insurer’s motions asking the judge to reconsider his grant of summary judgment to developers on their declaratory judgment and breach of contract claims against the insurer.

  • February 20, 2026

    Insurer Urges 9th Circuit To Affirm Amended Judgment In Damages Coverage Row

    SAN FRANCISCO — In its second brief on cross-appeal, a subcontractor’s insurer argues that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should affirm a lower court’s amended judgment in its favor, arguing that it did not have a duty to defend the subcontractor in the insurer’s equitable contribution and equitable indemnification suit arising from construction defect-related damages to a hotel the general contractor and subcontractor were constructing.

  • February 18, 2026

    Parties Announce Settlement Of Insurer’s Suit Over Injury At Cryotherapy Facility

    LOS ANGELES — Following an announcement that the entire case has settled, a federal judge in California deemed inactive the insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that its business owners liability insurance policy’s professional services exclusion bars coverage for a patient’s underlying action alleging that she was injured at a cryotherapy facility while receiving medical treatment from the insured, noting that the matter is moved to the inactive calendar pending the parties’ filing of a stipulation of dismissal.

  • February 17, 2026

    California Federal Judge: Massachusetts Law Applies To Suit Over LTD Benefits

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A claims administrator’s decision to deny long-term disability (LTD) benefits to a former executive will be reviewed for abuse of discretion rather than de novo after a California federal judge on Feb. 13 ruled that because the policy has a Massachusetts choice of law clause, a California law that invalidates discretionary clauses does not apply.

  • February 17, 2026

    Calif. Federal Judge Rules On 20 Motions In Limine In Aircraft Insurance Dispute

    SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge granted in part, denied in part and reserved ruling in part on a series of cross-motions in limine in a private jet insurance coverage dispute, excluding evidence of reinsurance and loss reserves, bifurcating punitive damages, limiting expert and regulatory evidence and reserving authentication and hearsay objections to competing insurance proposals for determination at trial.

  • February 13, 2026

    Insurer Argues Damages Calculation In Water Damage Coverage Dispute Was Wrong

    LOS ANGELES — A contractor’s commercial general liability insurer asked a federal judge in California to reconsider the judge’s grant of summary judgment to developers on their declaratory judgment and breach of contract claims against the insurer, arguing that the calculation of damages the judge found the insurer owed to the developers was wrong and that the judge failed to properly address arguments raised in the insurer’s opposition.

  • February 10, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Class Allegations In Suit Against California FAIR Plan Association

    LOS ANGELES — Noting that good cause has been shown, a California judge granted an insured’s motion to dismiss without prejudice class allegations in the insured’s lawsuit alleging that the California Fair Plan Association (CFP) issued property insurance policies with fire coverage that is unlawfully restrictive as to smoke damage claims.

  • February 09, 2026

    Wit, Related Case Get New Remedies Order On Mental Health, Substance Use Claims

    SAN FRANCISCO — Superseding a November 2020 remedies order in related class actions over thousands of mental health and substance use disorder treatmentclaims, a California federal magistrate judge said in part that for five years, criteria that United Behavioral Health (UBH) adopts to implement a generally accepted standard of care (GASC) requirement in any plan subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “shall accurately reflect GASC” pursuant to a prior ruling in the case “and the requirements of any applicable state law.”

  • February 09, 2026

    Investment Firm Sues Partner Over Alleged Break-Up Fee Default

    LOS ANGELES — An investment fund alleges in a California federal court that its foreign investment partner and a shared reinsurance subsidiary breached a memorandum of understanding (MOU) resolving more than $10 million in disputed financing obligations by failing to pay $1.5 million of a negotiated break-up fee by the December 2025 contractual deadline after making only partial installment payments.

  • February 06, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Insurer’s Suit Disputing Coverage For Negligence Claims

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California dismissed an insurer’s lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying negligence suit brought against its interior designer insured; the case had been stayed pending resolution of the underlying case, and the parties failed to issue a status report within the required time.

  • February 03, 2026

    Underlying Damages Economic, No Additional Insured Coverage Owed, Federal Judge Says

    SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California on Feb. 2 granted an insurer’s motion to dismiss a real estate agent insured’s breach of contract, bad faith and declaratory relief lawsuit seeking additional insured coverage for an underlying lawsuit alleging that the real estate agent deliberately misrepresented a coastal residence for sale, holding that the underlying action involves economic damages and not bodily injury or property damages to trigger coverage under the policy.

  • February 03, 2026

    Insurer Granted Judgment In ‘Break-Ins’ Misrepresentations Fire Coverage Suit

    FRESNO, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge granted summary judgment to an insurer in a fire damage coverage dispute with its insured, a veterans services organization, finding that the insurer was entitled to rescind the policy at issue due to material misrepresentations in the policy application regarding vandalism and break-ins at the insured property.

  • February 02, 2026

    Insurer Says No Defense, Indemnity Owed For Suits Arising From Fatal Shootings

    SAN FRANCISCO — An insurer filed suit in a California federal court seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify its insureds against underlying actions arising from a fatal shooting spree, arguing that the purported shootings and resulting injuries occurred at or arose from operations at a location that is not listed as a described insured premises in the businessowners insurance policy and that the commercial umbrella insurance policy’s abuse and molestation exclusion bars coverage.

  • January 27, 2026

    Contractor’s Insurer Sues For Declaratory Relief From Subcontractors’ Insurers

    LOS ANGELES — A general contractor’s insurer filed an action for declaratory relief and equitable indemnity and/or equitable contribution against subcontractors’ insurers in an underlying action brought by the owner of residential property alleging that construction defects caused damage to the property, arguing that none of the subcontractors’ insurers contributed to the general contractor’s defense as an additional insured under the subcontractors’ policies.

  • January 21, 2026

    Stipulation Of Dismissal Filed In FCA Upcoding Suit Pursuant To $556M Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — After Kaiser Permanente affiliates agreed to pay $556 million to resolve allegations of False Claims Act (FCA) violations related to false claims for risk adjustment payments under Medicare Advantage, relators and the affiliates in consolidated qui tam suits filed joint stipulations of dismissal.

  • January 21, 2026

    Judge: Engineer Claiming COVID Vaccine Injury Is Due LTD Benefits

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — On de novo review, a California federal judge concluded that a mechanical engineer who said she was disabled by a COVID vaccine injury due to symptoms including fatigue and brain fog is entitled to retroactive long-term disability (LTD) benefits under the plan’s initial “regular occupation” standard.

  • January 21, 2026

    Judge Rules For Insurer In Coverage Suit Arising From $700,000 In Stolen Cannabis

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California adopted a magistrate’s report recommending that a $32,197.19 default judgment be entered against an insured in the insurer’s declaratory judgment lawsuit disputing commercial liability coverage for an underlying negligence lawsuit arising from $700,000 in stolen cannabis products, affirming the magistrate’s holding that the insurer has no duty to defend because the insurance policy does not cover theft.

  • January 16, 2026

    Insured Failed To Show Businessowners Insurer Acted Unreasonably, Judge Says

    LOS ANGELES — An insured’s failure to show that an insurer’s investigation of a wind damage claim was incomplete or unreasonable warrants summary judgment in favor of the property insurer on the insured’s bad faith claim, a California federal judge said in partially granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment.

  • January 15, 2026

    LTD Claimant Takes Pre-Existing Condition Exclusion Fight To 9th Circuit

    SAN FRANCISCO — Arguing that the trial court made errors on de novo review including “expansively applying a pre-existing condition exclusion to bar coverage for a disability caused by post-coverage traumatic injuries” and “disregarding uncontroverted medical evidence,” an appellant claimant filed a Jan. 14 brief urging the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse an order that upheld denial of her claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits.

  • January 15, 2026

    Insureds Allege FAIR Plan Mishandled, Underpaid Wildfire Smoke Claims

    LOS ANGELES — A pair of property insurance policyholders sued the California FAIR Plan Association in state court, alleging that the association breached statutory coverage requirements and engaged in bad faith claims handling by relying on policy provisions that impermissibly restricted coverage for wildfire smoke contamination and loss-of-use claims stemming from the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.

  • January 14, 2026

    Judge Remands Suit Against Insurer For Data Sharing, Denies Attorney Fee Request

    SAN FRANCISCO — Writing that a dental insurer engaged in “dubious” tactics by “removing based on federal jurisdiction then turning around and challenging federal standing,” a California federal judge denied the insurer’s motion to dismiss and instead remanded a putative class action against it for allegedly sharing insureds’ online data without consent, but denied the plaintiff’s request to consider attorney fees.

  • January 13, 2026

    Insureds Appeal Finding That No Defense Owed For Faulty Power Pole Installation

    LOS ANGELES — A contractor and a subcontractor separately appealed judgment against them to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after a federal judge in California found that an insurer did not owe a duty to defend or indemnify the subcontractor in an underlying suit brought by the contractor to recover costs and expenses incurred in the inspection and remediation of nonconforming installations of power pole anchors and guy wires by the subcontractor.

  • January 13, 2026

    Unfair Business Practices Counterclaim Will Not Proceed In Remediation Cost Dispute

    LOS ANGELES — An environmental remediation contractor’s unfair business practices counterclaim alleged against an insurer seeking to recover costs paid on behalf of its insured for environmental remediation work cannot proceed because the contractor failed to show that it suffered a monetary or property loss and failed to request any remedy, a California federal judge said in partially granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss the contractor’s counterclaims.

  • January 13, 2026

    Insurer Cannot Recoup More Than $721K In Attorney Fees, Costs, Judge Says

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge partially denied an insurer’s motion to recoup more than $721,000 in attorney fees, costs and interest deposited with the court in a coverage dispute over environmental contamination costs owed to an insured after determining that the insurer failed to show that the fees and costs billed by the insureds are unreasonable.