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Mealey's Emerging Insurance Disputes

  • February 04, 2026

    Fee Exclusion Bars Professional Liability Coverage, 2nd Circuit Affirms

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 3 affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of primary and excess professional liability insurers, holding that a fee exclusion bars coverage for a financial services company insured’s liability in two underlying class actions alleging that certain mortgage loan fees were unlawful and the insured was derivatively liable under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act.

  • February 04, 2026

    Judge Refuses To Dismiss BSA Settlement Trustee’s Bad Faith Suit Against Insurers

    DALLAS — A federal judge in Texas denied insurers’ motion to dismiss the trustee of the Boy Scouts of America Settlement Trust’s bad faith lawsuit seeking a declaration that the insurers have breached or will breach their insurance policies by refusing to provide coverage for sexual abuse claims, rejecting the insurers’ argument that the lawsuit should be dismissed on forum non conveniens grounds or stayed under the Colorado River abstention doctrine.

  • February 03, 2026

    Federal Judge Refuses To Reconsider Ruling In Trade Secret Suit Against Insurer

    LAS VEGAS — A federal judge in Nevada denied a software provider’s motion to reconsider an earlier ruling that granted in part and denied in part an insurer’s motion for summary judgment in the provider’s lawsuit alleging that the insurer and another software provider misappropriated its trade secrets to develop a clone of its flood claims services system application, holding that the motion is untimely and the plaintiff failed to assert adequate grounds to grant its motion for reconsideration.

  • 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

    Parties File Summary Judgment Cross-Motions In Reinsurance Policy Dispute

    TRENTON, N.J. — A commercial auto insurer and a joint insurance fund filed cross-motions for summary judgment in a New Jersey federal court in a dispute stemming from a multimillion dollar settlement of a personal injury lawsuit involving a municipally owned ambulance, with the insurer arguing that policy language places primary responsibility on the insurance fund and the insurance fund contending that state law requires exhaustion of commercial coverage first.

  • 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.

  • February 02, 2026

    11th Circuit Asked To Rehear No Coverage Ruling For $10M Invasion Of Privacy Verdict

    ATLANTA — A minor, by and through her parent, filed a petition asking the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its holding that a 58-month delay in notifying an umbrella insurer of underlying conduct that could have triggered coverage was untimely as a matter law, challenging the appeals court’s ruling that affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the insurer in a direct action lawsuit seeking a $10 million judgment in the underlying invasion of privacy action.

  • February 02, 2026

    7th Circuit Dismisses Appeal In BIPA Violation Coverage Suit Following Settlement

    CHICAGO — One day after the parties filed a stipulation of dismissal, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed the excess insurer’s appeal of a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in a franchisee of the Burger King chain’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking a declaration that the insurer has a duty to defend against an underlying putative class lawsuit alleging that the insured violated the Illinois Biometric Information Protection Act (BIPA).

  • February 02, 2026

    Participants Exclusion Bars Coverage For Negligence Suit, Federal Judge Rules

    BAY CITY, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan granted a commercial insurer’s motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify the operator of an indoor recreational facility against an underlying negligence lawsuit arising from a high school soccer player’s knee injury, concluding that the policy’s participants exclusion bars coverage.

  • January 30, 2026

    Insurance Firms Sue Ex-Executive, Engineers Over Reinsurance Trade Secrets

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A group of insurance technology companies filed a complaint in a Delaware state court accusing former executives and engineers of misappropriating trade secrets, breaching fiduciary duties and contracts and conspiring with a program manager to launch a reinsurance and captive insurance company using confidential regulatory, program structure and market strategy information obtained during their employment.

  • January 29, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Assignee’s Bad Faith Suit Seeking To Recoup $3.2M Consent Judgment

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — In a two-page omnibus order with no reasoning, a federal judge in Florida dismissed without prejudice a bad faith lawsuit brought by the assignee of a horse stable owner insured seeking to recover an underlying $3.2 million consent judgment arising from the settlement of an underlying fraud lawsuit.

  • January 29, 2026

    6th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Retailer’s Coverage Suit Prompted By COVID-19

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of an insurer’s motion to dismiss a women’s fashion retailer’s breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking business interruption coverage for its losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, holding that the lower court did not err when it refused to evaluate the policy at issue under the law of each of the 22 states where the insured claimed losses.

  • January 29, 2026

    Document Production Ordered In Sex Abuse Coverage Suit Involving New York Diocese

    NEW YORK — After conducting an in camera review of documents in a discovery dispute in an insurance coverage suit, a New York federal magistrate judge ordered a nonparty New York diocese to provide specified documents from a personnel file it maintained for a priest alleged to have committed sexual abuse against children while working at another Roman Catholic diocese in the state.

  • January 28, 2026

    Majority: Bump-Up Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage For Securities Class Action

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A majority of the Delaware Supreme Court on Jan. 27 held that an insurance policy’s bump-up exclusion does not bar directors and officers coverage for an underlying securities class action brought against the insured, holding that the insurers failed to satisfy both requirements of the exclusion.

  • January 28, 2026

    Director Insured Only For Kiwanis Activities, Judge Says In Abuse Coverage Dispute

    TACOMA, Wash. — A federal judge in Washington denied in part and granted in part assignees’ motion for partial summary judgment in their lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying settlement of six sexual abuse lawsuits brought against a foster home insured, holding that the insured’s former interim executive director was insured under certain primary insurance policies but only for any Kiwanis International activities or activities he undertook on Kiwanis' behalf.

  • January 27, 2026

    Insurer, Hotel File Briefs On Jurisdiction In Sex Trafficking Coverage Suit

    ATLANTA — Three days after a commercial general liability insurer filed a supplemental brief to address whether a lower federal court’s declaration that it has a duty to defend against an underlying sex trafficking lawsuit is appealable, the hotel operator insured filed its own supplemental brief arguing to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that it is not.

  • January 26, 2026

    Parties Dismiss 1 Insurer In Maui Wildfire Coverage Dispute 5 Days Before Trial

    MAUI, Hawaii — Five days before their scheduled trial, parties asked a Hawaii court to dismiss with prejudice all claims against one of the defendant insurers in the insureds’ bad faith action alleging that the insurers’ subrogation lawsuit seeking to recover compensation for the payments that they made to victims of the Aug. 8, 2023, Maui wildfires is “unfair, inequitable, and unlawful” because they “seek to take money away from their premium-paying insureds who are the real victims of the Maui Wildfires without showing that these victims have been fully compensated.”

  • January 26, 2026

    Review Of NRA’s Petition In Free Speech Suit Over Insurance Program Rescheduled

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two weeks after The National Rifle Association of America filed a reply in support of its petition seeking high court review of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ holding that a former superintendent of the New York department that regulates insurance is entitled to qualified immunity on the NRA’s First Amendment coercion and retaliation claims against New York state officials and the department, the U.S. Supreme Court rescheduled its distribution of the petition for conference.

  • January 23, 2026

    Additional Insured Owed Coverage For Suits Over Gas Explosion, 7th Circuit Affirms

    CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 22 affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in a dispute over coverage for an additional insured for underlying lawsuits arising out of a gas explosion, holding that the primary insured’s “acts or omissions” caused the gas explosion in whole or in part and the plaintiff is an “additional insured” for the purposes of the umbrella insurance policy.

  • January 21, 2026

    Colorado Supreme Court Partly Grants Certiorari In Coronavirus Coverage Dispute

    DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court on Jan. 20 partly granted a retirement communities owner insured’s petition seeking review of a Colorado appeals court majority’s opinion that partly reversed a lower court’s ruling in favor of the insurer in the insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic.

  • January 21, 2026

    4th Circuit Reverses Ruling In Favor Of Under Armour In D&O Coverage Dispute

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 20 reversed a Maryland federal court’s grant of Under Armour Inc.’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in its directors and officers liability insurers’ lawsuit seeking a declaration that they owe no coverage for underlying investigations brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice, shareholder demand letters and a securities class action, holding that the insured’s public financial forecasts and accounting practices are a single claim under the policy because they are ‘logically or causally related” and, therefore, the insured is not entitled to additional insurance coverage under its 2017-2018 D&O policy.

  • January 21, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Counterclaims Against Insurers In Sexual Abuse Coverage Dispute

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted insurers’ motion to dismiss an insured’s counterclaims for declaratory relief, reimbursement and violations of the duty of good faith and fair dealing and New York General Business Law Section 349, holding that the majority of the counterclaims are duplicative of the breach of contract claim.

  • 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 20, 2026

    6th Circuit Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Suit Arising From Building Collapse

    CINCINNATI —The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 16 affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer in an insured’s lawsuit alleging that the insurer’s misrepresentations that it had full coverage makes the insurer liable for $1.3 million in code-compliance costs that exceeded the policy limit, concluding that the insured failed to demonstrate that the insurer “owed a separate-and-distinct duty to advise” or that the insured “reasonably relied on” the insurer’s alleged misrepresentations.

  • January 20, 2026

    Professional Services Exclusion Does Not Apply As Bar To Coverage, Judge Says

    HAMMOND, Ind. — A professional services exclusion does not apply as a bar to coverage for an underlying suit filed against an insured crane inspection company because the inspection by the company does not qualify as a professional service as the company’s inspectors did not have extensive training and operated more like technicians, an Indiana federal judge said in denying the insurer’s motion for partial summary judgment and granting the insured’s motion for partial summary judgment.