Mealey's Insurance Pleadings : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

January 05, 2024
Merck, Insurers Ask N.J. High Court To Dismiss Cyberattack Coverage Dispute

TRENTON, N.J. — Merck & Co. Inc. and certain insurers filed stipulations in the New Jersey Supreme Court seeking dismissal of the insurers from Merck’s lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from a June 2017 malware/cyberattack.
January 05, 2024
Clothing Retailer Asks North Carolina High Court To Review COVID-19 Coverage Suit

RALEIGH, N.C. — A clothing retailer insured petitioned the North Carolina Supreme Court to review an appeals court’s ruling that affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of its lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic, challenging the lower courts’ reliance on North State Deli v. Cincinnati Ins. Co. in dismissing its case.
January 03, 2024
Insurer Tells 5th Circuit Faulty Grain Silos Excluded From Coverage

NEW ORLEANS — A Texas federal judge was correct to grant summary judgment after finding that an insurer had no duty to indemnify a contractor in a farmers cooperative’s underlying suit alleging defective construction of grain silos because no “property damage” occurred under the terms of the contract, the insurer tells the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an appellee brief.
January 03, 2024
Professional Liability Insurer Dismisses Fraudulent Wire Transfer Coverage Dispute

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A professional liability insurer entered a stipulation in Vermont federal court dismissing with prejudice its lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying state court action seeking $459,411.77 from the insured for losses arising from a fraudulent wire transfer.
January 03, 2024
Exclusion Bids Regarding Claims, Outside Counsel Disputed In Reinsurance Row

LOS ANGELES — In California federal court filings, parties in a reinsurance billings suit over a variety of claims are disputing attempts by one defendant to exclude evidence regarding claims submitted to other reinsurers and opinions of outside counsel.
January 03, 2024
Company Seeks To Compel Insurers To Produce Documents In AFFF Litigation

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A company that makes firefighting products filed a motion on Jan. 2 in South Carolina federal court seeking to compel insurance companies to produce documents in a coverage dispute related to injuries from the firefighting substance aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) in the multidistrict litigation for AFFF, arguing that the insurers have refused to produce basic categories of documents that are directly related to the issues in dispute and are “plainly subject to discovery.” The company contends that the insurers’ objections to discovery requests are not valid, especially considering that the insurers are “seeking to escape up to $1 billion in coverage.”
January 02, 2024
Insurer Says Silica Exclusion Bars Coverage For Underlying Bodily Injury Suits

SANTA ANA, Calif. — No coverage is owed for underlying silica exposure bodily injury suits filed against an insured countertop manufacturer, supplier and distributor because the insured’s policies contain a silica exclusion that bars coverage for the underlying suit, an insurer says in a complaint filed in California federal court.
January 02, 2024
Exclusion, Partial Summary Judgment Bids Disputed In Microcaptive Insurance Suit

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A tax attorney and the federal government have signaled agreement to resolve the attorney’s claim for disclosure of tax information even as they pursue summary judgment and expert exclusion motions in the case involving a penalty related to microcaptive insurance companies in a Florida federal court.
January 02, 2024
Alleging Unpaid Claims, Iowa-Based Insurers Sue Foreign Reinsurer

DES MOINES, Iowa — Asserting a breach of contract claim and a bad faith claim, two members of the GuideOne family of insurance companies sued a China-based reinsurer for what they allege are its refusals to pay some valid claims for reinsurance reimbursement.
December 18, 2023
Pollution Liability Insurer Says Environmental Damage Claim Is Barred From Coverage

TRENTON, N.J. — A premises pollution liability insurer says in a motion to dismiss filed in New Jersey federal court that its insured’s breach its contract and bad faith suit must be dismissed because the policy at issue clearly excludes coverage for the environmental contamination remediation costs incurred by the insured municipality.
December 06, 2023
N.J. Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Tory Burch LLC’s Coronavirus Coverage Dispute

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appeals panel on Dec. 6 affirmed a lower court’s grant of an insurer’s motion to dismiss Tory Burch LLC’s breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive orders issued in response to the virus did not physically deprive the insured from possessing its property.
December 15, 2023
Court ‘Wrongly Expanded’ Electronic Data Exclusion, Home Depot Tells 6th Circuit

CINCINNATI — Home Depot Inc. filed an appellant brief in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging an Ohio federal court’s finding that a commercial general liability insurance policy’s electronic data exclusion bars coverage for the retailer’s losses stemming from a 2014 data breach, arguing that the lower court “wrongly expanded the narrow electronic-data exclusion beyond its natural meaning, based on assumed facts outside the record.”
December 13, 2023
Duke Sues Insurers In N.C. Court, Seeks D&O Coverage For Antitrust Settlement

RALEIGH, N.C. — Duke University filed suit in a North Carolina court seeking directors and officers liability coverage for its settlement of an underlying antitrust lawsuit, arguing that the primary insurer’s no-coverage position cannot be squared with its insurance “policy’s express antitrust coverage grant” and the absence of any exclusions for restitution or disgorgement.
December 12, 2023
Insurer Seeks Reconsideration Of Denial Of Dismissal In AFFF Coverage Action

CHARLESTON, S.C. — An insurance company has filed a reply brief in South Carolina federal court seeking reconsideration of an opinion and order denying its motion to dismiss a coverage dispute related to injuries from the firefighting substance aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) in the multidistrict litigation for AFFF, arguing that the court does not have jurisdiction over it because the insurer has no duty to defend under the policy at issue.
December 12, 2023
Dental Practice Incurred No Direct Physical Loss, Insurers Argue To Pa. High Court

PITTSBURGH — Insurers filed a reply brief in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court defending their appeal of a Pennsylvania Superior Court majority’s ruling that at the very least, it is reasonable to interpret the phrase “direct physical loss of . . . property” to encompass the loss of use of a dental practice’s property due to the spread of the coronavirus “absent any actual damage to property.”
December 12, 2023
Insurer Says It Owes No Duty To Defunct Company For Underlying Asbestos Suits

HOUSTON — An insurer claims in a complaint filed in Texas federal court that it has no duty to provide coverage for a now-defunct company named in underlying asbestos personal injury suits because the company was never insured under any policies issued by the insurer.
December 12, 2023
Insurer Was Not Prejudiced By Insured’s Notice In Pollution Suit, Insured Says

ATLANTA — A district court’s ruling that no coverage is owed to an insured for contamination cleanup costs caused by the release of petroleum and other contaminants from an underground storage tank at a gas station should be reversed because the insurer failed to show that the insured’s untimely notice was prejudicial to the insurer, the insured says in its appellant brief filed in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal.
December 08, 2023
Faulty Work Isn’t An Accident, Doesn’t Trigger Policy, Insurer Says

LAS VEGAS — An insurer told the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that neither a contractor found by an arbitrator to have breached a contract nor the homeowner association to which it assigned its rights was entitled to coverage for faulty work and that contrary to their arguments, there was nothing ambiguous about the term “accident.”
December 08, 2023
Limitation In Disability Income Policy Is Ambiguous, Claimant Tells 9th Circuit

SAN FRANCISCO — A district court erred in finding that a disability income insurer correctly reduced the claimant’s disability income benefits according to the terms of the disability income policy because the policy’s monthly benefit limitation is ambiguous and, therefore, must be construed in favor of the claimant, a disability claimant says in an appellant brief filed in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal.
December 07, 2023
Insurer To 11th Circuit: Coverage For Project Manager Barred By Exclusion

ATLANTA — An insurance policy’s professional services exclusion eliminates the insurer’s duty to defend where the insured, a construction management company, is being sued for construction defects on an apartment project where it operated as a “construction manager” pursuant to a “Professional Services Agreement,” the insurer argues in an appellee brief filed in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
December 06, 2023
Contractor To 7th Circuit: Coverage Owed Under Subcontractor’s Policies

CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal should reverse a district court’s ruling that insurers do not owe a general contractor a defense or indemnification as an additional insured in a coverage dispute stemming from a subcontractor’s defective welding work at O’Hare International Airport because the underlying claims are potentially within the coverage of the insurance policies at issue, the general contractor maintains in an appellant reply brief.
December 06, 2023
GEICO Seeks Default In $1.8M PIP Fraud Suit Against Doctors, Pain Clinic

NEWARK, N.J. — GEICO on Dec. 5 moved for a clerk’s entry of default in a New Jersey federal court after a doctor and his medical practice failed to respond to GEICO’s complaint alleging that they participated in a “complex fraudulent scheme” with other medical practitioners and a pain management practice to submit fraudulent personal injury protection (PIP) billing to GEICO for services that were not performed or not medically necessary, resulting in damages to GEICO of more than $1.8 million.
December 05, 2023
Insurer Seeks Reimbursement From Government For Losses Caused By Contaminated Water

HONOLULU — In a complaint filed in Hawaii federal court, an insurer claims that the U.S. government must reimburse it for more than $500,000 paid to its insured for business losses after a fuel spill at a jet fuel storage facility operated by the U.S, Navy contaminated local drinking water and forced the insured to close its fast food restaurants for approximately four months.
December 01, 2023
Contractor To 11th Circuit: Insurer’s Exclusions Don’t Bar Defense In Defect Case

ATLANTA — A contractor’s commercial general liability insurer has failed to show that construction defects a Florida couple accused the contractor of causing fall within the exclusions of the policy and thus eliminate the insurer’s duty to defend, the contractor argues in its appellee brief filed in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in what is the third appeal in the case.
November 29, 2023
On Remand, Parties Dispute Expert Exclusion Bids In RESPA Class Lawsuit

FRESNO, Calif. — Parties in a long-running Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) class action involving captive reinsurance agreements are sparring in California federal court over expert testimony regarding whether the plaintiffs have standing under an economic harm theory.