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Mealey's Insurance Bad Faith

  • December 04, 2025

    Insurer-Insured Debate Postjudgment Interest After Asbestos Award

    NEW ORLEANS — An insurer in a Dec. 3 response asks for clarification of the period for which insured seeks prejudgment interest after a federal judge in Louisiana entered final judgment for an asbestos defendant on a $338,000 breach of contract claim.

  • December 04, 2025

    Judgment Denied For State Farm In Fire Coverage Dispute Over Misrepresentations

    SCRANTON, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge on Dec. 3 denied summary judgment to State Farm in a breach of contract suit over State Farm’s alleged failure to cover an insured’s fire damage claim, finding that the insured’s testimony during an examination under oath (EUO) creates a dispute of fact regarding whether he made false statements in bad faith as to his knowledge of judgments exceeding $100,000 against him.

  • December 02, 2025

    Insured Appeals Court’s Ruling That It Failed To Toll Statute Of Limitations

    CHICAGO — A condominium association insured filed a notice on Dec. 1 appealing an Illinois federal court’s grant of an insurer’s motion for summary judgment in its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from hail and wind damage to the roofs of its 27-building condominium complex.

  • December 01, 2025

    Defective Construction Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage For Water, Mold Damages

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted summary judgment in favor of insured homeowners on a breach of contract claim after determining that an all-risk policy provides coverage for rainwater intrusion and additional living expenses incurred as a result of mold contamination in the insureds’ home because rainwater, a covered loss, rather than defective construction, an excluded cause of loss, was the “efficient proximate cause” of the insureds’ loss.

  • December 01, 2025

    Panel: Court Erred In Denying Homeowners Insurer’s Motion To Dismiss Bad Faith Suit

    HOUSTON — A state trial court erred in denying a homeowners insurer’s motion to dismiss claims alleging violations of the Texas Insurance Code and bad faith because the insureds’ causes of action against the insurer were barred based on the insurer’s payment of an appraisal award, the First District Texas Court of Appeals said in vacating the trial court’s order.

  • December 01, 2025

    Breach Of Contract, Bad Faith Claims Against Life Insurer Fail, Judge Says

    MONROE, La. — A Louisiana federal judge granted a life insurer’s motion for summary judgment on breach of contract and bad faith claims after determining that the claims fail because the claimant failed to show that the life insurer breached any of the policy provisions.

  • December 01, 2025

    Property Insurer Says Insureds’ Breach Of Contract Claim Must Be Dismissed

    TULSA, Okla. — A breach of contract claim against a property insurer must be dismissed because the insureds failed to file suit within the policy’s one-year suit limitation provision and failed to show in their amended complaint that the limitation provision should be tolled, the insurer says in a motion to dismiss filed in Oklahoma federal court.

  • December 01, 2025

    Insured Failed To Support Bad Faith Claim Against Auto Insurer, Judge Says

    PHILADELPHIA — An insured’s bad faith claim cannot proceed because she failed to show that her auto insurer lacked a reasonable basis to deny a claim for underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits, a Pennsylvania federal judge said.

  • November 25, 2025

    11th Circuit Affirms Bad Faith Verdict Entered In Favor Of Auto Insurer

    ATLANTA — A district court did not abuse its discretion by not allowing an insured to introduce a jury verdict in her favor in the liability trial to the jury in a bad faith trial because the insured previously agreed that the verdict in the liability trial was irrelevant to the bad faith claim, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in affirming the jury’s verdict in favor of the auto insurer on the insured’s bad faith claim.

  • November 25, 2025

    Fact Issues Exist On Cause Of Water Damage, California Panel Says In Reversing

    LOS ANGELES — The Second District California Court of Appeal reversed a trial court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an insurer on breach of contract and bad faith claims in a dispute over coverage for water damage in the insured’s home after determining that questions of fact exist over whether a windstorm or wear and tear caused a hole in the home’s roof that resulted in water entering the home.

  • November 24, 2025

    N.Y. Appellate Court Affirms Order Requiring Production Of Reinsurance Agreement

    NEW YORK — The First Department New York Supreme Court Appellate Division unanimously affirmed a prior order requiring an insurer to produce copies of its reinsurance agreements in the Archdiocese of New York’s coverage dispute arising from nearly 1,700 underlying sexual abuse lawsuits, holding that the state’s discovery rule governing insurance agreements extends to reinsurance contracts and that recent legislative amendments do not limit disclosure.

  • November 24, 2025

    Employee Accused Of Sharing Captive Insurance Trade Info Files Fraud Counterclaim

    PHOENIX — An ex-employee of an insurance brokerage firm filed an answer and counterclaim in response to the firm’s verified amended complaint alleging that he misappropriated trade secrets and breached his contract by transferring captive insurance client information to a competitor, asserting a claim for fraud and that the firm induced his continued employment through fictitious equity unit awards while concealing a forthcoming corporate acquisition that would render them worthless.

  • November 21, 2025

    W.Va. Court Reverses Summary Judgment Rulings For Subcontractors’ Insurers

    CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Finding that a trial court misconstrued Soaring Eagle Development Co., LLC v. Travelers Indemnity Co. of America to preclude a general contractor’s breach of contract, bad faith and unfair trade practices claims against subcontractors’ insurers, the West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals in consolidated appeals reversed the trial court’s rulings granting summary judgment to the general contractor.

  • November 21, 2025

    Bifurcation Warranted To Prevent Prejudice To Homeowners Insurer, Judge Says

    LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge granted a homeowners insurer’s motion to bifurcate bad faith claims from a breach of contract claim after determining that bifurcation will prevent an insurer from being prejudiced if the claims are tried together.

  • November 19, 2025

    Farmer Alleges Crop Insurer Wrongly Terminated Policy, Causing $396K In Losses

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A farmer filed an amended complaint in an Alabama federal court, alleging that a crop insurance provider wrongfully terminated her 2022 crop year policy and unduly reported her to a federal ineligibility database; the crop insurer seeks dismissal of the suit on the grounds that the dispute is subject to mandatory arbitration under the Federal Crop Insurance Act (FCIA).

  • November 18, 2025

    Contamination Exclusion Bars Coverage For COVID-19 Losses, 9th Circuit Affirms

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 17 affirmed a district court’s ruling that an all-risk policy’s contamination exclusion bars coverage for losses sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic, rejecting the insureds’ argument that the district court erred in finding that a California appellate panel’s ruling in a similar case is applicable to the instant dispute.

  • November 18, 2025

    W.Va. Federal Judge Mostly Denies Dismissal In Suit Over LTD Benefits

    HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia federal judge declined to dismiss a bad faith claim against a long-term disability (LTD) insurer and ruled that four out of five allegations as to violation of the West Virginia Unfair Trade Practices Act (UTPA) survive.

  • November 17, 2025

    Calif. Federal Case Closed After CGL Insurer, Construction Company Seek Dismissal

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The same day a commercial general liability insurer and a construction company insured filed a stipulation to dismiss all claims, counterclaims and a cross-claim in a coverage dispute arising from alleged construction defects in a concrete slab the insured poured for a new building, a federal court in California terminated the entire action.

  • November 17, 2025

    Fact Issues Exist As To Whether Delay Of UIM Payment Was Reasonable

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge denied an insured’s motion for summary judgment on a bad faith claim alleged against her auto insurer because questions of fact exist as to whether the insurer’s delay in paying the insured’s underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits claim was reasonable.

  • November 17, 2025

    Bad Faith Claim Against Property Insurer Can Proceed, Federal Magistrate Judge Says

    TULSA, Okla. — A bad faith claim alleged against a property insurer can proceed because the bad faith claim is subject to Oklahoma’s two-year statute of limitations rather than the insurance policy’s one-year suit limitation provision, an Oklahoma federal magistrate judge said in partially denying the insurer’s motion to dismiss.

  • November 17, 2025

    Ohio Panel Says Trial Court Properly Found Appraisal Not Warranted Under Policy

    MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — A trial court did not err in denying an insured’s motion to compel appraisal and granting a homeowners insurer’s motion for summary judgment on breach of contract and bad faith claims because matters of law and coverage cannot be determined through appraisal, the Ohio 12th District Court of Appeals said in affirming the lower court’s rulings.

  • November 14, 2025

    Trial Court Properly Found Auto Insurer Did Not Act In Bad Faith, Panel Says

    FRANKFORT, Ky. — An auto insurer did not act in bad faith in handling a claim on behalf of its insured because the insurer promptly made offers to settle claims against its insured and clarified the scope of a release when questioned by the claimants, a Kentucky Court of Appeals panel said in affirming a trial court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the insurer.

  • November 13, 2025

    Federal Judge Refuses To Remand Bad Faith Suit Over Hurricane Ida Coverage Dispute

    NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Louisiana denied an insured’s motion to remand its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit against its insurer, holding that the court has diversity jurisdiction over the lawsuit arising from Hurricane Ida damage.

  • November 12, 2025

    Insured’s Breach Of Contract, Bad Faith Claims Properly Dismissed, Panel Says

    PHILADELPHIA — A trial court did not err in dismissing an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith claims against a homeowners insurer and its agent because the insured cannot establish justifiable reliance on an oral contract that the insured claims existed between the parties, a panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court said in affirming.

  • November 10, 2025

    COMMENTARY: Uh-EUO: How Examinations Under Oath Impact Claims

    By Rachel E. Hudgins, Kevin V. Small and Charlotte E. Leszinske