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Mealey's Insurance Insolvency

  • April 24, 2026

    California Fair Plan Association Appeals Ruling As To Declaratory Judgment Claim

    LOS ANGELES — The California Fair Plan Association (CFP) said it is appealing a California court’s grant of summary adjudication in favor of an insured as to his sole remaining claim for declaratory relief in his lawsuit alleging that CFP issued property insurance policies with fire coverage that is unlawfully restrictive as to smoke damage claims.

  • April 23, 2026

    Oral Argument Date Change Sought In Hurricane Coverage Row Over Settlement Funds

    NEW ORLEANS — In an insured’s dispute with his lender over its alleged failure to endorse settlement checks as an additional payee in a hurricane coverage dispute involving a now-insolvent insurer, the lender filed a motion in Louisiana federal court seeking to change the date for oral argument on its motion to dismiss.

  • April 23, 2026

    PHL Policyholders Denied Emergency Relief But Granted Limited Intervention

    WATERBURY, Conn. — A Connecticut state judge granted limited intervention but denied emergency relief sought by universal life policyholders in PHL Variable Insurance Co.’s rehabilitation, holding that despite the rehabilitator’s Dec. 31 shift to a liquidation strategy, his decisions to reject a proposed premium suspension or escrow mechanism remained lawful, rational and in good faith under the deferential standards governing rehabilitation proceedings.

  • April 21, 2026

    Florida Panel Affirms Ruling Limiting Attorney Fees In Coverage Dispute With FIGA

    LAKELAND, Fla.  — A Florida appellate court affirmed a lower court ruling granting attorney fees to a medical practice in its dispute with the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) over payment for medical treatment for a patient insured by a now-insolvent insurer, agreeing with the lower court that the practice is not entitled to attorney fees incurred prior to the insurer’s insolvency because the litigation occurring prior to the insolvency was not related to FIGA’s denial of coverage.

  • April 21, 2026

    Panel Remands Auto Insurance Coverage Row, Tells Court To ‘Scrupulously Comply’

    DETROIT — A Michigan appellate court for the second time reversed and remanded a trial court’s dismissal for failure to post a $5,000 security bond in a personal injury protection (PIP) auto insurance coverage dispute, finding that on remand, the trial court “failed to articulate any rationale supporting the amount of the security bond considering plaintiff’s uncontested indigence.”

  • April 16, 2026

    N.C. Panel Tosses Show Cause Order Appeal In Insurance Breach Of Contract Suit

    RALEIGH, N.C. — In a breach of contract dispute between insurers in liquidation or rehabilitation and their former owner, insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, and related parties, a North Carolina appellate panel on April 15 dismissed an appeal by nonparties seeking review of a trial court’s interlocutory show cause order regarding why the nonparties should not be held in civil contempt for allegedly transferring assets in violation of a temporary restraining order (TRO), finding that the nonparties failed to show that the order was immediately appealable.

  • April 15, 2026

    Homeowner: Replacement Cost Value Represents Damages In Plumbing Coverage Dispute

    ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After a jury returned a verdict in favor of a Florida homeowner, she filed an opening brief appealing the lower court’s final judgment ordering the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) to pay her $46,855.75, which represents the actual cash value of the cost to repair the plumbing system in her home that purportedly caused water damage, arguing that the lower court erred when it prevented the jury from considering the estimate for replacement cost value damages.

  • April 14, 2026

    Parties Submit Joint Status Report In SEC Fraud Dispute With Insurance Mogul

    WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Pursuant to a North Carolina federal court order staying the case until sentencings in related criminal proceedings, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, his advisory services company and its former executive filed a joint status report in the SEC’s suit accusing Lindberg and related parties of defrauding clients out of more than $75 million.

  • April 13, 2026

    Case Tossed For Failure To File Report In Bad Faith Suit Against Insolvent Insurer

    LAS VEGAS — A Nevada federal magistrate judge dismissed without prejudice a bad faith suit filed against an insurer, finding that dismissal is appropriate because the plaintiffs failed to file a report by the agreed-upon April 1 deadline regarding the insurer’s liquidation proceeding in Kansas.

  • April 10, 2026

    Insurer Argues For Dismissal In Debt Collection Dispute With Alleged Borrower

    NEW YORK — An insolvent insurer filed a reply brief in New York federal court in further support of its dismissal motion in a suit filed against it by a purported student loan debtor alleging that the insurer and multiple parties participated in a fraudulent debt collection practice resulting in a lien against her property, asserting that the court should dismiss the claims against the insurer “under principles of abstention and comity in favor” of pending liquidation proceedings in a Delaware court.

  • April 10, 2026

    Judge: Retirees Have Standing To Challenge PRT But Didn’t State Claims

    SEATTLE — Adding to the mixed record in a string of similar Employee Retirement Income Security Act challenges to pension risk transfers (PRTs), a Washington federal judge granted dismissal of the putative class suit with leave to amend upon concluding that Weyerhaeuser Co. retirees had standing but failed to plausibly state their claims.

  • April 09, 2026

    Motion To Bifurcate Hearing Granted In Insurance Magnate Criminal Cases

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge granted the parties’ joint motion to bifurcate the sentencing hearing in criminal cases against insurance magnate Greg Lindberg in which he is awaiting sentence and restitution decisions after pleading guilty to money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy related to his $2 billion scheme to defraud insurers and policyholders and after being convicted on retrial in a related criminal proceeding for bribing the North Carolina insurance commissioner.

  • April 03, 2026

    Claims Against Flood Insurer Dismissed In Hurricane Coverage Row Involving LIGA

    BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana federal judge dismissed with prejudice claims against an insurance carrier participating in the U.S. government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in insured homeowners’ Hurricane Ida coverage dispute with the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA)and the carrier, finding that the breach of contract claims against the carrier are barred by a one-year statute of limitations.

  • April 01, 2026

    Expanded Class Complaint Alleges Nondisclosure Of PHL’s Poor Financial Status

    CHICAGO — Policyholders filed an amended putative class action complaint in an Illinois federal court, adding 11 more named plaintiffs and expanding allegations that State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., which marketed and serviced life insurance and annuity products issued by PHL Variable Insurance Co. pursuant to a distribution agreement, failed to disclose PHL’s financial deterioration, including its use of affiliated reinsurance transactions, prior to its placement into administrative supervision and rehabilitation proceedings that resulted in limitations on policyholder benefits.

  • March 31, 2026

    Judge Tosses Insurance Mogul Bid To Compel Arbitration Related To Equity Purchase

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge dismissed a suit filed by former insurance mogul Greg Lindberg seeking to compel arbitration to offset claims under an equity purchase agreement (EPA) between an investment company he once owned and sellers who sold their ownership interests in health care and pharmaceutical companies to his investment company, finding that the court lacks personal jurisdiction over any out-of-state defendants, that there is no valid claim for offset and that Lindberg lacks standing to assert claims on behalf of the investment company.

  • March 26, 2026

    Judge Extends Submission Date In Hurricane Coverage Dispute Over Settlement Funds

    NEW ORLEANS — In an insured’s dispute with his lender over its alleged failure to endorse settlement checks as an additional payee in a hurricane coverage dispute involving a now-insolvent insurer, a Louisiana federal judge granted the parties’ joint motion to extend a submission date for filing briefs in response to the lender’s motion to dismiss an amended complaint.

  • March 25, 2026

    Retirees Will Ask D.C. Circuit To Revive PRT Case Against Alcoa USA Corp.

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — On March 24, Alcoa USA Corp. retirees filed a notice that they will attempt to revive their putative class challenge to pension risk transfers (PRTs) in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals; the appeal will be the second in a string of similar cases filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • March 25, 2026

    Appellate Court Grants Extension To Submit Brief In Water Damage Coverage Dispute

    ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After a jury returned a verdict in favor of a Florida homeowner, a Florida appellate court granted her an extension to file an opening brief in her appeal of a lower court’s final judgment ordering the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) to pay her $46,855.75, which represents the cash value of the cost to repair the plumbing system in her home that purportedly caused water damage.

  • March 25, 2026

    Case Referred To Magistrate For Settlement Conference In Life Policy Payout Row

    CINCINNATI — In a liquidating trustee’s breach of contract suit against an insurer for failure to pay the full amount owed on a life insurance policy, an Ohio federal judge referred the case to a magistrate judge “for the limited purpose of conducting a settlement conference.”

  • March 24, 2026

    Denial Of Objection To Claim Recommended In Property Insurer Liquidation Case

    WILMINGTON, Del. — In an insurer’s liquidation proceeding, a Delaware Court of Chancery magistrate judge advised granting the receiver’s claim recommendation and denying a woman’s objection to a zero dollar valued claim for the portion of the woman’s claim related to the alleged concealment of the insolvent insurer’s policy in underlying property damage litigation, finding that the evidence shows the woman was already compensated for her damages by another insurer.

  • March 19, 2026

    COMMENTARY: America 250: A History Of Insurance & Insurance Coverage Law & Litigation In The United States, Part 2

    By Scott M. Seaman, Pedro E. Hernandez and Peter J. Lewis  

  • March 23, 2026

    Florida Panel Affirms Judgment For FIGA In Breach Of Contract Water Damage Dispute

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Without providing explanation, a Florida appellate court affirmed a lower court’s partial grant of summary judgment for the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA), which was substituted as a defendant in homeowners’ breach of contract suit against their now-insolvent insurer alleging that the insurer failed to repair all the water damage at their property.

  • March 20, 2026

    Florida Panel Reverses Order Enforcing Settlement In Hurricane Coverage Dispute

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — In a hurricane coverage dispute, a Florida appellate court reversed and remanded a lower court order enforcing an insured’s settlement agreement with a now-insolvent insurer against the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA), which was substituted as a defendant after the insurer was placed into receivership, finding that the insured’s claim for attorney fees “does not fall within the statutory definition of a covered claim.”

  • March 20, 2026

    Judgment Granted For Insurer In $8.59M Structured Annuity Settlement Dispute

    TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge denied partial summary judgment to an annuitant but granted summary judgment to an excess insurer in a dispute over a reduction of $8.59 million in annuity payments agreed to between a woman injured in a car accident and the excess insurer for one of the defendants in a separate liability suit, finding that the woman’s claims were barred by the relevant six-year statute of limitations because the excess insurer, which purchased the annuity from a now-insolvent insurer, allegedly materially breached the agreement by reducing the payments and repudiating the agreement over six years before the suit was filed.

  • March 19, 2026

    Re-Notice Of Deposition Filed In Guaranty Association Breach Of Contract Dispute

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — After a Florida state court judge ordered homeowners to appear for depositions in their breach of contract suit against the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA), which was substituted as the defendant for their now-insolvent homeowners insurer, FIGA filed a re-notice stating that it will be deposing the homeowners on May 11.