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Mealey's Insurance Bad Faith

  • September 15, 2025

    Summary Judgment Denied For Insurer In Fabric Water Damage Coverage Dispute

    BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge denied summary judgment to an insurer in a breach of contract and bad faith suit filed against it by its insured, a “high-end” fabric retailer seeking coverage for water damage, finding that “summary judgment is not appropriate” in part because of remaining questions as to whether the insured voided the policy pursuant to a fraud provision regarding alleged “bogus” estimates of damage.

  • September 15, 2025

    Insured’s Bad Faith Claims Tossed, But Breach Of Contract Allegation To Continue

    DENVER — A Colorado federal judge held that a homeowner failed to plead sufficient facts to support statutory and common law bad faith claims against his insurer but found that the breach of contract claim can proceed because the homeowner adequately stated that all premiums were paid and that the policy provides coverage for accidental water damage.

  • September 15, 2025

    Third-Party Bad Faith Claims Not Recognized Under Ohio Law, Panel Says

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — A trial court properly determined that an amended complaint against a tortfeasor’s auto insurer cannot proceed because the plaintiff is not an insured under the policy and because third-party bad faith claims are not recognized under Ohio law, the 10th District Ohio Court of Appeals said.

  • September 15, 2025

    Homeowners’ Bad Faith, Breach Of Contract Claims To Proceed, Magistrate Judge Says

    DALLAS — A Texas federal magistrate judge denied a homeowners insurer’s motion to dismiss claims for breach of contract and bad faith brought by insureds seeking coverage for water damage in their home after determining that the insureds sufficiently allege facts in their amended complaint to support the claims.

  • September 15, 2025

    Trial Court’s Post-Offer Interest Ruling Reversed By Nevada High Court Majority

    LAS VEGAS — The majority of the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed a jury’s verdict on breach of contract, unfair insurance practices and bad faith claims at issue in an auto coverage dispute; however, the majority reversed the jury verdict on the issue of post-offer interest on a punitive damages award after determining that post-offer interest differs from prejudgment interest and that the trial court applied the incorrect precedent in refusing to assess post-offer interest.

  • September 15, 2025

    Fact Issues Exist On Value Of UIM Claims And Insurer’s Offers To Settle, Judge Says

    LAS VEGAS — An insured’s breach of contract and bad faith claims against an auto insurer will proceed, a Nevada federal judge said, because questions of fact exist regarding the value of the insured’s underinsured motorist (UIM) claims and the reasonableness of the offers made by the auto insurer to settle the insured’s claims.

  • September 12, 2025

    Parties Advise Court Of Settlement In Hurricane Ida Coverage Dispute

    NEW ORLEANS — Parties involved in a Hurricane Ida coverage dispute filed a joint notice of settlement in a Louisiana federal court, advising the court that they resolved the dispute between the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA), a flood insurer and its insured related to the insured’s purported losses from the hurricane.

  • September 11, 2025

    Claims Against Homeowners Insurer In Water Leak Suit Cannot Proceed, Judge Says

    PHOENIX — A homeowners insurer is entitled to summary judgment on breach of contract, bad faith and unfair settlement practices claims because the insureds failed to show that the insurer breached any portion of the insurance policy or acted in bad faith in handling the insureds’ claim for additional living expenses after the insureds were forced to leave their home because of a water leak in the home’s slab, an Arizona federal judge said.

  • September 11, 2025

    Bifurcation Of Claims Not Warranted In Tree Damage Coverage Suit, Judge Says

    CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Bifurcation of a breach of contract claim from bad faith and unjust enrichment claims in a dispute over coverage for damages incurred at an insured home is not warranted because the unjust enrichment claim and a portion of the bad faith claim are not duplicative of the breach of contract claim, a West Virginia federal judge said in denying a homeowners insurer’s motion for bifurcation.

  • September 10, 2025

    California ‘Insurer Of Last Last Resort’ Sued For Allegedly Mishandling Fire Claim

    LOS ANGELES — A homeowner whose property is covered by the California Fair Plan Association (CFPA) sued the insurance pool in state court, alleging that the state’s “insurer of last resort” failed to adequately investigate and assess damage and issue payment after her home was damaged in the Palisades Fire.

  • September 10, 2025

    Auto Insurer Did Not Breach Contract, Act In Bad Faith, Panel Says In Affirming

    NEW ORLEANS — A trial court did not err in granting summary judgment in favor of an auto insurer on breach of contract and bad faith claims because the insured failed to meet his burden of showing that the insurer’s payments were not timely or that the insurer owed any additional payments under the policy, the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal said.

  • September 10, 2025

    Judge: Integration Brought Owners-Only LTD Policy Under ERISA

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — Dismissing bad faith and breach of contract claims that a PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) equity owner who unsuccessfully sought long-term disability (LTD) benefits because of symptoms he attributed to long COVID asserted under California law, a California federal judge concluded that when “an employer integrates a pre-existing” policy that is not governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “into a broader ERISA-governed plan, the non-ERISA policy becomes a part of the ERISA plan and is subject to the requirements and preemptive effect of ERISA.”

  • September 09, 2025

    Bad Faith Claims Fail Based On Insurer’s Payment For All Damages, Panel Says

    NEW ORLEANS — A district court properly granted summary judgment in favor of a homeowners insurer in a water damage coverage dispute because the insurer’s payments for all amounts owed under the insurance policy forecloses an insured’s bad faith claims, brought under the Texas Insurance Code and under common law, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Sept. 8.

  • September 09, 2025

    Motions To Compel Discovery Granted In Part In Hurricane Coverage Dispute

    NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal magistrate judge on Sept. 8 granted in part and denied in part a homeowners insurer’s motions to compel production of documents by an appraiser and his firm in a Hurricane Ida coverage dispute, finding that the appraiser’s contracts for the past 10 years are “relevant.”

  • September 09, 2025

    New York Justice Grants Archdiocese’s Summary Judgment Motion Against Certain Insurers

    NEW YORK — A New York justice on Sept. 8 granted the Archdiocese of New York’s motion for partial summary judgment against London Market Insurers (LMI) in the archdioces’s coverage dispute arising from close to 1,700 underlying sexual abuse lawsuits, declaring that LMI must pay its solvent shares of its full policy limit of $200,000 per covered occurrence from May 1, 1975, to May 14, 1978, and $300,000 per covered occurrence from May 15, 1978, to Sept. 1, 1978, in excess of the policy’s $100,000-per-occurrence retention.

  • September 09, 2025

    Judge Stands By Take-Nothing Judgment In Insurer’s Favor In Hailstorm Coverage Suit

    TYLER, Texas — A federal judge in Texas denied an insured’s motion to alter or amend the court’s take-nothing judgment in favor of a commercial property insurer in a coverage dispute arising from property damage that was caused by a wind and hailstorm, finding that the insured failed to provide evidence of $4,838,747 in breach of contract damages and $35 million in exemplary damages that was previously awarded by a jury.

  • September 05, 2025

    Calif. Judge Terminates Auto Insurance Claim Dispute, Finds ‘No Triable Issues’

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted summary judgment in favor of State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Co. and terminated a case involving a denied auto policy claim, ruling that there were no triable issues of fact on the insured’s claims for breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing claims because the insured was not the sole owner of a vehicle involved in a collision.

  • September 02, 2025

    Panel Affirms Ruling Denying Attorney Fees Request In Dispute With Property Insurer

    MIAMI — A Florida appellate court affirmed a lower court order denying attorney fees to a homeowner who previously obtained final judgment in her favor in a coverage dispute with her property insurer, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which describes itself on its website as Florida’s “insurer of last resort,” citing case law affirming lower court orders where an appellant failed to appropriately raise issues before the trial court.

  • September 02, 2025

    Pollution Liability Insurer Has No Duty To Defend Insured, Federal Judge Says

    SAN FRANCISCO — A pollution liability insurer has no duty to defend its insured against underlying suits stemming from the insured’s environmental remediation work because the pollution conditions at issue were not unexpected or unintended as required by the policies, a California federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment.

  • August 29, 2025

    Panel Affirms Order Tossing Fraud Accident Suit, Cites Process Service Error

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio appellate court on Aug. 28 affirmed a lower court’s order dismissing a fraud, negligence and breach of contract suit filed by one driver against another driver and insurers for purported damages incurred in a motor vehicle accident, finding that the plaintiff’s assignments of error lack merit because service of process was not adequately made on the individual defendant within one year of filing the complaint as required by the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure.

  • 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 29, 2025

    Insurer’s Bid To Dismiss Bad Faith Claim Denied By Pennsylvania Federal Judge

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge denied an insurer’s partial motion to dismiss an insured’s bad faith complaint, ruling that the insured set forth sufficient factual allegations to state a claim for relief under Pennsylvania's bad faith statute and further holding that the insured is entitled to discovery.

  • August 29, 2025

    Breach Of Contract, Bad Faith Suit Barred By 2-Year Prescription Period, Judge Says

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — An insured’s breach of contract and bad faith suit is barred by a policy’s two-year prescription period because the insured failed to file suit within two years after the insurer made its final payment for hurricane damages incurred to the insured’s home, a Louisiana federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss.

  • August 28, 2025

    5th Circuit: Reinsurer’s Late Notice Of Litigation Constitutes Prejudice

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a Texas federal court’s ruling in a reinsurer’s appeal of a $2,866,423.97 judgment that includes attorney fees, ruling that an insurer’s months-late notice of its involvement in underlying class action litigation constituted a material breach of its quota share treaty with the reinsurer and violated the contract’s notice provision, depriving the reinsurer of its right to participate in the defense and establishing prejudice as a matter of law.