Mealey's Emerging Insurance Disputes : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Emerging Insurance Disputes

August 29, 2025
Panel Partly Reverses Ruling In Insurer’s Subrogation Suit Prompted By Jet Damage

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in an insurer’s subrogation lawsuit arising from property damage incurred by the insured’s privately owned noncommercial aircraft while it was parked and stored at an aircraft facility that was operated by the defendant, finding that there is a genuine dispute of material fact regarding whether it was reasonable for the defendant to conclude that the pilot had the apparent authority to bind the aircraft owner to the limitation of liability provision of the landing card.
August 29, 2025
Judge: Motor Vehicle Exclusion Bars Coverage For Negligence Suit Against Minor’s Parents

SPOKANE, Wash. — A Washington federal judge on Aug. 28 held that a manufactured home insurance policy’s motor vehicle exclusion barred coverage for an underlying negligence lawsuit brought against the parents of a minor who was driving a golf cart that struck and injured a pedestrian, granting the insurer’s motion for partial summary judgment seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend.
August 29, 2025
Assignee’s Bad Faith, Breach Claims In Dog Attack Suit Will Proceed Against Insurer

SAVANNAH, Ga. — An assignee’s claims alleging breach of the duty to settle, breach of the duty to pay and bad faith failure to settle will proceed against a homeowners insurer because a possibility of coverage exists under the insured’s policy for an underlying complaint filed against the insured and stemming from a dog attack, a Georgia federal judge said in denying the insurer’s motion to dismiss.
August 29, 2025
Judge: Insurer’s Application Of Aggregate Limit For Wage, Hour Claims Was Proper

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal judge dismissed an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith suit without prejudice after determining that an employment practices liability insurer did not breach the insurance contract or act in bad faith in applying the policy’s maximum aggregate limit of liability for wage and hour claims to the settlement of an underlying class action filed against the insured.
August 28, 2025
Majority Reverses Class Certification In Suit Challenging Auto Insurer’s Practices

RICHMOND, Va. — A majority of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded that a lower federal court abused its discretion in certifying a class in a lawsuit alleging that an insurer improperly decreased the compensation for totaled vehicles, ruling that common questions do not predominate because the claims are “essentially individualized claims requiring mini trials as to each.”
August 28, 2025
Delaware High Court Denies Interlocutory Appeal In Product Liability Coverage Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Supreme Court on Aug. 27 refused insurers’ request for interlocutory appeal of a lower court’s ruling that underlying product liability claims brought against Mattel Inc. and Fisher Price Inc. (collectively, Mattel) constituted a single “occurrence” under their tower of commercial general liability insurance policies and should be allocated by the year in which the bodily injury occurred for the policies above the primary tower level, finding that “[p]iecemeal appeals will not promote efficiency or considerations of justice.”
August 27, 2025
11th Circuit Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Food Supplier’s Bad Faith Suit

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 26 affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an insurer in a food supplier insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for its equipment damage and business income losses arising from three separate events, finding that the insured failed to give prompt notice of its loss.
August 27, 2025
Insurer Has No Duty To Defend Elder Care Facility Against Wrongful Eviction Claims

BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that an insurer has no duty to defend an elder care facility against underlying wrongful eviction claims, reversing a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in part.
August 26, 2025
Panel Affirms Take-Nothing Judgment In Coverage Dispute Over Wrongful Termination

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 25 affirmed a Florida federal court’s take-nothing judgment in favor of a primary insurer in an insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage under a professional liability, directors and officer's liability and fiduciary liability insurance policy for underlying claims that he was wrongfully terminated by his former employer.
August 26, 2025
Property Owner Sues CGL Insurer In Dispute Arising From Music Video Shooting

ATLANTA — An Atlanta property owner sued a commercial general liability insurer in a federal court in Georgia for breach of contract and declaratory relief, arguing that the insurer has a duty to pay more than $250,000 in attorney fees the property owner has incurred in defending against an underlying personal injury lawsuit arising from a shooting that occurred during the filming of a music video and that it is entitled to hire its own independent counsel at the expense of the insurer.
August 25, 2025
Judge Denies Insurer’s Summary Judgment Motion, Stays Sexual Abuse Coverage Suit

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California denied an insurer’s motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit seeking rescission of an assisted living facility’s insurance policy and granted the insured’s motion to stay the coverage dispute until discovery is completed in an underlying action alleging that an elderly patient suffered sexual abuse while she was as a resident at the insured’s facility.
August 25, 2025
Insurers Appeal Duty To Defend, Indemnify Ruling In Sex Trafficking Coverage Suit

NORFOLK, Va. — Insurers filed a notice indicating that they are appealing a federal court’s ruling that granted an insured’s motion to dismiss their lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that they have no duty to defend or indemnify against a Jane Doe’s claims that she was trafficked for sex at a hotel that was owned or operated by the insured, challenging the court’s ruling that the policy unambiguously covers the conduct alleged in the underlying action.
August 20, 2025
‘Coverage Position Is Frivolous And Unfounded,’ Insured Argues In Data Breach Suit

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — An insured sued its insurer in a federal court in Georgia for breach of contract and bad faith seeking cyber defense coverage for putative class actions brought as a result of a 2024 data breach.
August 20, 2025
Insured Sues D&O Insurer For Defense Costs Arising From Securities Fraud Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — A corporation insured sued its directors and officers liability insurer in a Delaware federal court for breach of contract and seeks a declaration that the insurer must promptly reimburse it for the costs it has incurred in defending an underlying securities fraud lawsuit brought by shareholders.
August 20, 2025
Federal Judge: Suits Allege Insureds Intentionally Paid Terrorists; No Coverage Owed

SHERMAN, Texas — A Texas federal judge held that insurers have no duty to defend against underlying lawsuits alleging that insureds violated the federal Anti-Terrorism Act because the underlying actions assert that the insureds “intentionally made payments” to foreign terrorist organizations and, as a result, do not allege an occurrence under the policies.
August 20, 2025
Insurer Disputes Coverage For Suit Alleging Dental Office Violated Privacy Rights

CHICAGO — A commercial general liability and umbrella insurer filed suit in a federal court in Illinois seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify for an underlying putative class action alleging that its dental office insured violated privacy rights through its use of internet tracking that collected private information without notice and without consent, arguing that the policy exclusion for access to/disclosure of private information bars coverage.
August 19, 2025
Delaware High Court Affirms Ruling In Insurers’ Favor In Opioid Coverage Dispute

WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Supreme Court on Aug. 18 affirmed a lower court’s ruling that denied CVS Health Corp.’s motion for partial summary judgment and granted its insurers’ motion for partial summary judgment in their lawsuit disputing coverage for 218 underlying opioid lawsuits, agreeing with the lower court that, under ACE American Insurance Co. v. Rite Aid Corp., the underlying lawsuits fail to seek damages because of any specific bodily injury or damage to any specific property to trigger coverage.
August 19, 2025
Judge: Professional Services Exclusion Bars Coverage For Faulty DNA Analysis

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida determined that an insurance policy’s professional services exclusion expressly bars coverage for the insured’s faulty DNA analysis, granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss an international forensic firm’s lawsuit seeking to collect an underlying $877,245 default judgment entered against the insured.
August 18, 2025
Texas High Court Refuses To Review Coverage Dispute Over Fatal Shooting

TYLER, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court refused to review an appeals panel’s ruling that affirmed a lower court’s grant of a homeowners insurer’s motion for partial summary judgment in its declaratory judgment lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying wrongful death action.
August 18, 2025
Panel Affirms Coverage Issue, Reverses Attorney Fees Award In Injury Coverage Suit

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s judgment declaring that a subcontractor’s commercial general liability insurer has a duty to indemnify a property owner in an underlying personal injury lawsuit that occurred during construction at the premises but reversed the lower court’s award of attorney fees in favor of the property owner’s insurer.
August 12, 2025
COMMENTARY: Shifting Cyber Risk: The Critical Role Of Indemnification In Vendor Contracts

By Latosha M. Ellis and Veronica P. Adams
August 11, 2025
COMMENTARY: The Forever Chemical: Regulation, Litigation And Insurance

By Robert D. Chesler, Arthur J. Clarke, Walker Prentke, Brian Della Torre and Matthew J. Sinkman
August 15, 2025
No Coverage Owed For Elder Abuse Suit, Insurer Argues In Federal Court

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An insurer filed suit in a California federal court seeking a declaratory judgment that it owes no coverage for an underlying sexual battery, negligence and elder abuse lawsuit brought against its insured and its subsidiaries, arguing that the policy’s exclusions for criminal acts and assault, battery, abuse and molestation bar commercial general liability coverage and that the policy’s professional liability coverage was not triggered because the alleged abuser was not providing health care professional services at the time of the assault.
August 14, 2025
Insured Appeals, Insurer Seeks Attorney Fees In Coverage Suit Over Fatal Shooting

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — An insured filed a notice of appeal of a Montana federal court’s finding that a liquor liability insurance policy’s Absolute Firearms Exclusion bars coverage for an underlying negligence action arising from a fatal shooting at the insured’s bar the same day the insurer moved for attorney fees incurred in the underlying action.
August 14, 2025
N.J. Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Townhouse Owner’s Bad Faith Coverage Dispute

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a townhouse owner’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for underlying intentional interference, assault and harassment claims brought against him by a condominium association and its board members, finding that the underlying claims are premised on the plaintiff’s intentional acts and intent to cause the alleged harm.