Mealey's Catastrophic Loss : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Catastrophic Loss

April 30, 2025
Residents Sue State-Mandated Insurer ‘Of Last Resort’ Over Los Angeles Wildfires

LOS ANGELES — California residents sued the California Fair Plan Association (CFPA) and its largest members in a state court seeking damages for the defendants’ alleged bad faith breach of their property insurance policies following the Los Angeles wildfires in January.
April 30, 2025
Parties Seek Discovery In Australia In Reinsurance Breach Of Contract Suit

NEW YORK — The defendants in a breach of contract lawsuit ask a New York federal court to issue letters rogatory to obtain otherwise unobtainable information from an industrial machinery manufacturer and two of its employees in an Australian court as part of a gold mining equipment dispute over whether the defendants are direct insurers or reinsurers of the plaintiff.
April 29, 2025
Insurer Asks 5th Circuit To Reconsider Ruling In Bad Faith Suit Over Hurricane Laura

NEW ORLEANS — An insurer on April 28 asked the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider the part of its ruling that affirmed a lower federal court’s judgment in favor of a church insured in a bad faith lawsuit arising from Hurricane Laura damage, challenging the appellate court’s findings as to jurisdiction, appraisal and policy valuation and bad faith.
April 29, 2025
Alaska Federal Judge Grants Insurer’s Motion To Dismiss COVID-19 Coverage Suit

ANCHORAGE, Ala. — Following the Alaska Supreme Court’s answers to two certified questions in a coronavirus coverage dispute, a federal judge in Alaska on April 28 entered judgment in favor of an insurer after granting its motion to dismiss an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for loss of business income under the Communicable Disease Suspension of Operations provision in the insurance policy.
April 25, 2025
Texas High Court Grants Agreed Motion To Dismiss Insurer’s Petition For Review

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on April 25 granted a commercial property insurer and its insured’s agreed motion to dismiss the insurer’s petition seeking review of a lower court’s partial summary judgment order in a coronavirus coverage dispute, according to its orders pronounced.
April 25, 2025
Judge Tosses Insured’s Untimely Coverage Suit Arising From Hurricane Idalia Damage

TAMPA, Fla.— A federal judge in Florida granted an insurer’s motion to dismiss without prejudice its insured’s breach of contract lawsuit arising from property damage caused by Hurricane Idalia, concluding that the lawsuit is time-barred.
April 25, 2025
Residents: County’s Empty Reservoirs, Energized Powerlines Caused Palisades Fire

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County residents sued Los Angeles acting through the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) for inverse condemnation, telling a California Superior Court that the Palisades Fire was caused by LADWP's empty reservoirs and energized powerlines.
April 22, 2025
Homeowners Accuse Insurers Of ‘Nefarious Conspiracy’ In Suit Arising From Wildfires

LOS ANGELES — California homeowners affected by the Los Angeles wildfires sued insurers in a California court for violations of the state’s Cartwright Act and unfair competition law (UCL), alleging that the insurers participated in a “nefarious conspiracy to eliminate competition between them, and to intentionally and systematically force Plaintiffs to obtain fire insurance from the state’s insurer of last resort.”
April 22, 2025
Citing No Diversity, Judge Remands Hurricane Ida Coverage Dispute To State Court

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge granted a homeowner’s motion to remand to state court a Hurricane Ida coverage dispute after the Louisiana Guaranty Association (LIGA) was added as a defendant, finding that due to the absence of complete diversity, “remand to state court is appropriate.”
April 21, 2025
Judge Declines To Reopen Hurricane Damage Dispute Pending Arbitrability Appeal

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge denied a state parish’s motion to reopen and reconsider a prior order compelling arbitration of the parish’s claims for unpaid hurricane damages against domestic and foreign insurers based on the Louisiana Supreme Court’s ruling on the impact of state law on insurance arbitration and said the parish may refile after the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issues a ruling on the issue.
April 21, 2025
Iowa Panel: Coverage For Derecho Damage Voided By Material Misrepresentations

DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa appeals court panel held that a landscaping company’s insurance coverage for damage caused by an August 2020 derecho was voided by the insured’s material misrepresentations, affirming a lower court.
April 21, 2025
Insured Seeks Coverage For More Than $50M In Losses Caused By Coronavirus

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A limited partnership that owns and operates shopping centers containing outlet stores sued its primary and excess insurers for declaratory relief and breach of contract in a North Carolina court, alleging that the lawsuit is “necessitated” by the insurers’ failure and refusal to indemnify it for “tens of millions of dollars in losses” caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
April 18, 2025
Suquamish Tribe Opposes Insurers’ High Court Petition In Tribal Jurisdiction Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Suquamish Tribe in Washington filed an opposition to insurers’ petition for writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine “whether a tribal court can exercise jurisdiction over nonmembers of the tribe based on off-reservation conduct,” asking the high court to not disturb the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ opinion that affirmed a federal court’s finding that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over a COVID-19 coverage suit involving tribal properties on tribal land.
April 17, 2025
Breach Of Contract, Bad Faith Claims In Hurricane Damage Suit Dismissed

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge dismissed an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith suit stemming from a dispute over coverage for property damages sustained during a hurricane to a rental property because the insured failed to show that the damages are covered under a property insurance policy.
April 17, 2025
Panel: Plaintiff Lacks Standing To Sue Lender-Placed Insurer In Hurricane Irma Suit

MIAMI — A Florida appeals panel on April 16 affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a plaintiff’s third-party beneficiary breach of contract lawsuit against a lender-placed insurer, agreeing with the lower court that the plaintiff lacked standing to sue the insurer because there was no clear or manifest intent of the contracting parties that the policy primarily and directly benefit the plaintiff.
April 16, 2025
5th Circuit Remands Attorney Fees Issue In Hurricane Laura Coverage Dispute

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals remanded two questions regarding attorney fees to a lower federal court and otherwise affirmed the judgment in favor of the church insured in a bad faith lawsuit arising from Hurricane Laura damage.
April 15, 2025
Bad Faith Suit: CFPA Systematically Failed To Investigate, Pay Wildfire Claims

LOS ANGELES — Plaintiffs sued California Fair Plan Association (CFPA) and its “largest” members for breach of contract and bad faith in a California court, seeking compensation for their losses incurred by the January Los Angeles wildfires and to hold CFPA “accountable for its decade-long, systematic failure to properly investigate and pay wildfire claims.”
April 11, 2025
Federal Judge Allows Insurers’ Expert Testimony In Hail Damage Coverage Dispute

DALLAS — Experts retained by an insurance company in a dispute over coverage for hail storm damage did not “rely on an extracontractual definition of cosmetic or functional damage to reach their conclusions,” a Texas federal judge ruled April 10 in denying a motion to exclude.
April 09, 2025
Breach Of Contract Suit In Storm Coverage Dispute Is Untimely, Texas Panel Affirms

DALLAS — A Texas appeals court affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a homeowners insurer on remand of a coverage dispute arising from property damage caused by a wind and hailstorm, agreeing with the lower court that the insureds’ breach of contract lawsuit was untimely.
April 09, 2025
Court Lacked Jurisdiction To Review Appraisal Award, Virginia Panel Affirms

RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia appeals court on April 8 affirmed a lower court’s ruling that it lacked jurisdiction to review a $1.7 million appraisal award in a hail and windstorm coverage dispute under the statute pleaded, further denying a property insurer and church insured’s requests for appellate attorney fees and costs.
April 08, 2025
Insurers: ‘Had SCE Acted Responsibly, The Eaton Fire Could Have Been Prevented’

LOS ANGELES — Insurers have filed a subrogation lawsuit alleging negligence and inverse condemnation against Southern California Edison Co. (SCE) in a California court, alleging that the Eaton fire could have been prevented had the defendant acted responsibly.
April 08, 2025
Texas High Court Agrees To Review Majority’s Reversal In Tornado Coverage Dispute

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court granted an insurer’s petition asking it to review a Texas appellate court majority’s reversal of a lower court’s judgment against insureds in a coverage dispute arising from tornado damage.
April 07, 2025
Missouri Panel Partly Reverses Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In COVID-19 Coverage Suit

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri panel affirmed in part and reversed in part an insured’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic, finding that the court cannot hold that one of the insurers was entitled to judgment as a matter of law under its primary “all-risk” property insurance policy’s Pollution Contamination exclusion and the master policy's Mold, Mildew & Fungus Clause and Microorganism exclusion on the insured’s claims for loss of attraction coverage.
April 04, 2025
Panel Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Motel Owners’ Adversary Proceeding

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 3 affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an insurer in Texas motel owner insureds’ breach of contract and bad faith adversary proceeding arising from water damage caused by Winter Storm Uri, finding that the insureds’ evidence fails to create a genuine dispute of material fact regarding whether the insurer breached the policy by underpaying for building repairs and contents.
April 04, 2025
Judge: Insured Failed To Provide Prompt Notice Of Damage Arising From Derecho

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — A federal judge in Illinois on April 3 entered judgment in favor of a businessowners insurer in a hotel owner insured’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for damage to the hotel arising from a 2020 derecho, concluding that the insured failed to provide prompt notice of the claim.