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September 23, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — An insurer filed an answering brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, asking it to affirm a federal judge in California’s ruling that the insurer had no duty to defend or indemnify an additional insured for the amount the additional insured paid to resolve a third party’s presuit claims, arguing that the policies required that a suit be filed against the additional insured for those duties to be triggered.
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September 23, 2026
DURHAM, N.C. — Less than three weeks after a North Carolina federal judge granted summary judgment in favor of four Durham businesses on their claims for declaratory judgment, breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and unfair and deceptive trade practices in their lawsuit seeking coverage for their business interruption losses arising from the lockdowns prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the insureds and their mutual commercial property insurer filed a joint notice stating that they have reached a settlement in principle and seeking a stay of all case deadlines and adjournment of the Sept. 24 pretrial conference.
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September 23, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Insurers waived their right to respond to a doctor’s petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling affirming as modified a lower court’s dismissal of the doctor’s breach of contract seeking business interruption and umbrella coverage for her losses arising from discovery of hidden cameras at her dermatology office; the doctor is asking to court to address what defines “direct physical loss” in electronic security context.
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September 23, 2026
TACOMA, Wash. — A commercial general liability insurer filed suit in a Washington federal court seeking a declaratory judgment that it owes no coverage for an underlying lawsuit alleging that a nicotine vaporizer that was distributed by the insured exploded in a customer’s pants pocket and caused severe burn injuries, asserting that coverage is barred by the policy exclusion for “Tobacco, Nicotine Or Nicotine Replacement Products” and endorsement for “Limitation of Coverage to Designated Premises, Project or Operation.”
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September 22, 2026
LOS ANGELES — An insurer filed a motion for reconsideration in California federal court, arguing that reconsideration of the denial of the insurer’s motion for certification of interlocutory appeal is warranted based on another California federal judge’s recent decisions certifying interlocutory appeals in similar silica exposure coverage suits.
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September 22, 2026
LOS ANGELES — Insureds who owned, operated and managed an apartment complex are not entitled to a defense or indemnity for an underlying wrongful death suit stemming from a tenant’s death caused by exposure to mold and mold spores in a rental apartment because the policies’ fungi or bacteria exclusions and pollution exclusions bar coverage, the insurers say in a California state court complaint.
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September 22, 2026
SAN JOSE, Calif. — An assignee notified a California federal court that he is appealing the court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a business and management liability insurer on his claims for breach of contract, bad faith and punitive damages in a directors and officers liability coverage dispute over an underlying lawsuit alleging breaches of fiduciary duties against the insured’s directors.
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September 21, 2026
HONOLULU — Two insurers notified a federal court in Hawaii that they are appealing the court’s grant of partial summary judgment in favor of a petroleum company insured in a coverage dispute over claims that the insured is responsible for the damaging effects of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and its failure to disclose or warn of the hazards of using the fossil fuel products that it sold into the stream of commerce.
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September 21, 2026
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — An employee welfare benefit plan that offered voluntary benefits including long-term disability (LTD), life insurance and critical illness coverage is the focus of a putative class complaint filed in New York federal court, with plan participants accusing their employer of violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by making choices that resulted in “excessive charges embedded in premiums, diminished Plan and participant assets, and the loss of value and loyalty owed by a fiduciary operating free of self-dealing.”
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September 18, 2026
FLINT, Mich. — Insurers ask a Michigan federal court to grant their motion for summary judgment in a coverage dispute arising from the death of a minor who was receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy at the insured’s facility, asserting that every underlying claim against the insured is based upon professional services arising from the operation and use of a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and that state and federal courts applying both Michigan and other state laws have broadly enforced “professional services” exclusions in incidents similar to those asserted in the underlying complaint against the insured and its employees.
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September 17, 2026
NEW YORK — A surgical practice defendant on Sept. 16 primarily denied cross-claims against it for contribution and indemnification by a physician co-defendant in a suit filed by Federal Express Corp. (FedEx) against legal and medical providers in a New York federal court, alleging that they participated in a scheme that specifically targets delivery trucks due to their higher insurance policy limits to “stage or exaggerate accidents, fabricate injuries” and use “falsified medical documentation to inflate claims.”
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September 17, 2026
MIAMI — The Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) on Sept. 16 filed a motion for a stay of discovery in Florida state court in a breach of contract suit filed against it by an insured whose now-insolvent insurer purportedly failed to cover a claim for wind damage, asserting that discovery should be stayed until the court rules on FIGA’s prior dismissal motion.
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September 17, 2026
CINCINNATI — The Internal Revenue Service seeks affirmance in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of a lower court’s ruling that upheld a disputed agency final rule that established two regulations governing small captive insurance arrangements, maintaining that it acted within its congressionally delegated authority to promulgate the directive and that its implementation does not violate the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
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September 16, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — The owners of two microcaptive insurance arrangements ask the Fifth Circuit to overturn U.S. Tax Court rulings that disallowed deductions after finding that the arrangements did not constitute insurance for federal tax purposes and subsequently imposed penalties, arguing in part that the Tax Court improperly displaced state insurance regulation in violation of the McCarran-Ferguson Act, which bars federal interference with state insurance regulation without clear congressional authorization, particularly because the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) had approved the reinsurance pool used by the captives as a risk-distribution arrangement.
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September 16, 2026
CLEVELAND — An insurer seeking to avoid reimbursing a reinsurer’s $31 million environmental settlement told an Ohio federal court that the reinsurer’s counterclaims for breach of contract, equitable subrogation and unjust enrichment fail because the payment arose from the reinsurer’s separate guaranty obligations rather than liabilities under the reinsured policy and because the reinsurer lacks contractual rights to enforce the facultative reinsurance certificates.
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September 15, 2026
EL PASO, Texas — A commercial general liability insurer argues in a Sept. 14 motion for summary judgment filed in Texas federal court that it has no duty to defend its insured against an underlying suit stemming from carbon monoxide poisoning at an insured motel pursuant to a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that held that a pollution exclusion applies to injuries caused by the release of carbon monoxide.
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September 15, 2026
TAMPA, Fla. — A claimant who unsuccessfully challenged termination of her long-term disability (LTD) benefits under an any-occupation definition of disability filed a Sept. 14 notice in Florida federal court that she is taking the case to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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September 15, 2026
SEATTLE — An excess insurer has a duty to defend its insured in an underlying environmental contamination lawsuit because a 2016 order issued by a state court in a similar suit involving many of the same parties does not have preclusive effect and cannot be applied to excuse the insurer from its duty to defend, the insured says in a motion for partial summary judgment filed in Washington federal court.
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September 15, 2026
OXFORD, Miss. — No coverage is owed to an insured for underlying wrongful death and negligence claims stemming from exposure to contaminated soil and groundwater that allegedly was not properly remediated because coverage is barred by the applicable policy’s total pollution exclusion, the insurer says in its reply in support of summary judgment.
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September 14, 2026
TAMPA, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida on Sept. 11 adopted a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation and held that an insurer had no duty to defend a concrete paver manufacturer in an underlying dispute over defective pavers at an RV park, holding that the insurer owed no duty to defend because the defective pavers did not cause physical injury to other tangible property.
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September 14, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — Parties involved in a Hurricane Ida coverage dispute on Sept. 11 filed a joint motion to dismiss in a Louisiana federal court, advising the court that they have resolved the dispute among the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA), a flood insurer and its insured over the insured’s purported losses from the hurricane.
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September 14, 2026
TRENTON, N.J. — Gasoline supplier Hess Corp. filed a complaint in New Jersey federal court, claiming it is entitled as an additional insured to coverage for two underlying bodily injury lawsuits seeking damages as a result of exposure to benzene in gasoline supplied by Hess.
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September 14, 2026
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In Florida state court, the Florida Department of Financial Services as receiver for insolvent insurer American Capital Assurance Corp. (AmCap) filed a response in opposition to a roofing company’s objection to a notice of determination regarding its claim classification, asserting that the department did not make a recommendation as to the value of the claim at issue because there are insufficient funds to pay claims in the company’s classification.
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September 11, 2026
HOUSTON — In response to a woman’s motion filed in a federal Texas court to alter or amend a judgment that dismissed breach of contract, bad faith, state insurance law and negligence claims against her insurer over freeze-related damage that reportedly led to mold buildup at her Houston home, the insurer argues that a binding appraisal award and payment resolved the dispute and that the homeowner improperly seeks to relitigate her claims.
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September 11, 2026
BURLINGTON, Vt. — A governmental risk management pool alleges in a complaint filed in Vermont federal court that for more than 15 years, a member-owned captive reinsurance company misused and misallocated tens of millions of dollars in capital contributions and premium payments by allegedly subsidizing other members’ losses and failing to properly credit the risk pool’s capital accounts, bringing claims for contractual, fiduciary and anticipatory breaches.