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June 01, 2026
GALVESTON, Texas — Claims for breach of contract, bad faith and violations of Texas law should not proceed against a homeowners insurer because they fail based on the insurer’s payment of an appraisal award, a Texas federal magistrate judge said May 29 in recommending that the insurer’s motion for summary judgment be granted.
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June 01, 2026
SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge denied motions for summary judgment filed by an insured and a homeowners insurer after determining that questions of fact exist as to whether the insurer’s estimate of the insured’s water loss damages was unreasonably low.
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May 29, 2026
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A trial court did not err in entering judgment in favor of an auto insurer on a bad faith claim because the court thoroughly reviewed the record and applied the appropriate legal standard in finding that the insureds failed to prove that the insurer acted in bad faith in handling their claim for underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits, a Pennsylvania Superior Court panel determined.
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May 29, 2026
BATON ROUGE, La. — An insured’s bad faith suit brought against an auto insurer cannot proceed because the suit is barred by a prior suit arising out of the same transaction or occurrence filed by the insured, a Louisiana federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment.
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May 29, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — An insured’s breach of contract and bad faith claims cannot proceed against an insurer because the insurer satisfied the conditions of a personal articles policy when it issued and mailed payments on claims for lost jewelry made by one of the insureds, a California federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss.
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May 28, 2026
SANTA ANA, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted an employment practices liability insurer’s motion to dismiss a construction company insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying action seeking redress of false claims and alleging prevailing wage law violations, holding that the underlying claims are not employment claims brought by or on behalf of employees to trigger coverage under the policy.
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May 22, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that an insured failed to satisfy her burden under Texas law to demonstrate the timing of her alleged loss arising from hail damage to her roof, affirming a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the insurer in the insured’s lawsuit for breach of contract, bad faith and violations of the Texas Insurance Code.
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May 22, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania dismissed a property owner’s declaratory judgment claim against its builders’ risk insurer over coverage for a subcontractor’s faulty tile installation, finding the claim duplicative of the property owner’s breach of contract claim; the case will continue on the property owner’s bad faith and breach of contract claims.
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May 21, 2026
BOISE, Idaho — After reaching a settlement in February following a judge’s dismissal of bad faith counterclaims filed by a construction company and seller of property, the parties to a coverage dispute over fire damage that occurred after a construction worker discarded oil-soaked rags filed a stipulation of dismissal in Idaho federal court.
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May 21, 2026
AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge granted in part and denied in part an insurer’s motion to dismiss a pool construction company’s suit against it stemming from two underlying suits for property damage and construction defects, finding that the company provided sufficient allegations to plausibly support the company’s claims for breach of contract and bad faith, but not its claims for declaratory relief or under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) or the Texas Insurance Code.
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May 21, 2026
NEW YORK — Briefing before the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has concluded in a disability benefits appeal centered on a residual disability provision, with the appellees arguing in their answering brief that the trial court correctly concluded that the provision was not ambiguous and permitted termination of the benefits at age 65, and the beneficiary contending in his reply brief that the parties’ “competing interpretations demonstrate that the Provision is susceptible to more than one reasonable meaning, which is sufficient to establish ambiguity under New York law.”
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May 21, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — In a reply brief filed in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, homeowners argue that an insurer in its appellee brief repeats a lower court’s structural error: “no indemnity, therefore no other claims”; the homeowners say that once a developer tendered its complaint, which triggered the duty to defend, the insurer was required to perform claim-handling obligations.
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May 20, 2026
PADUCAH, Ky. — A reinsurer and a ferrosilicon producer filed summary judgment motions in a Kentucky federal court in a pollution cleanup cost coverage dispute, with the reinsurer seeking dismissal of all claims against it on the basis that it is only an indemnity reinsurer with no contractual duties to the producer and the producer seeking rulings that its insurer and the reinsurer must cover more than $4.6 million in disputed claim costs, plus future regulatory compliance costs, under a pollution legal liability policy.
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May 19, 2026
LOS ANGELES — An insured filed a motion to stay its silica coverage suit pending in California federal court until the underlying silica bodily injury suits are resolved, noting that a stay would prevent the insured from having to litigate on two fronts.
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May 18, 2026
PHOENIX — Noting that a policyholder’s third lawsuit stemming from a denied claim for roof damage is “not the charm,” an Arizona federal judge granted a homeowners insurer’s motion for summary judgment on breach of contract and bad faith claims after determining that the insured does not have standing based on the insured’s assignment of rights to a third party.
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May 15, 2026
SEATTLE — The operators of three Denny’s franchises and their executive officer and director sued their primary and excess commercial general liability insurers in a Washington federal court for breach of contract, bad faith, declaratory relief and violations of Washington’s Insurance Fair Conduct Act and Consumer Protection Act, alleging that they had to fund the defense and $425,000 resolution of an underlying wage-and-hour class action after the insurers walked away from the mediation.
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May 15, 2026
BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana federal judge denied a third-party claimant’s motion to amend the amount of a judgment entered in a bad faith suit against an insurer after determining that the claimant waived her right to seek prejudgment interest on the original amount of an underlying state court judgment when she filed the instant bad faith suit against the insurer.
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May 15, 2026
SHREVEPORT, La. — Breach of contract and bad faith claims alleged against a homeowners insurer in a water damage coverage dispute will proceed because questions of fact exist as to whether the insured maintained the heat in the home at the required temperature in accordance with the policy’s reasonable care requirement, a Louisiana federal judge said.
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May 15, 2026
NEW YORK — An insured’s breach of contract and bad faith suit stemming from a dispute over coverage for storm damage to the insured’s property cannot proceed because the insured failed to file suit within two years of the date of the damage as required by the policy’s two-year suit limitations provision, a New York federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings and dismissing the insured’s suit with prejudice.
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May 14, 2026
JACKSON, Miss. — An earth movement exclusion clearly bars coverage for foundation damage caused by a burst water pipe and an additional coverage provision for loss of land stability does not apply to the insureds’ loss, a Mississippi federal judge said in granting an insurer’s motion to dismiss the insureds’ extracontractual claims.
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May 14, 2026
DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court denied an insured’s petition for rehearing of the high court majority’s ruling that a Colorado statute does not bar two auto insurers from asserting that their insured breached the duty to cooperate under the applicable policies.
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May 13, 2026
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied a homeowners insurer’s motion to dismiss bad faith, declaratory relief and unfair competition law (UCL) claims alleged by insureds who seek coverage for damages to their home and contents caused by wildfire smoke and ash because the insureds adequately allege that the insurer withheld benefits in bad faith, that a coverage dispute exists and that ongoing coverage may be owed.
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May 12, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Louisiana denied an insurer’s motion for judgment as a matter of law or for a new trial following a jury’s finding that it acted in bad faith in its handling of the church insured’s claim arising from Hurricane Ida property damage, refusing to disturb a $4,567,441.68 final judgment entered against the insurer.
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May 11, 2026
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on May 8 conditionally granted mandamus relief to relator insurers, holding that a lower court abused its discretion in denying the insurers’ motion to compel appraisal of their insureds’ flood damage loss to a food distribution warehouse because the record amply establishes that the parties’ disagreement is at least partly about the insureds’ amount of loss.
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May 08, 2026
DENVER — A Colorado federal magistrate judge on May 7 granted in part a motion to compel discovery of certain text messages sent by a woman whose company sued its business owner’s insurer for breach of contract for its purported failure to cover a claim for fire damage to her retail store, finding in part that privacy considerations related to the text messages are outweighed by the need to view them in connection with an arson investigation related to the fire.