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

Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

August 27, 2024
Convenience Store Seeks CGL Coverage For Suit Arising From Mallory Beach Death

ATLANTA — A convenience store chain insured sued its commercial general liability insurers in a Georgia federal court for breach of contract and declaratory relief, seeking personal and advertising injury coverage for an underlying civil conspiracy and outrage/intentional infliction of emotional distress lawsuit arising from the boat crash that killed Mallory Beach.
August 27, 2024
Appellant: Mortgage Lender Charged Insurance Premiums That Were Strictly Prohibited

RICHMOND, Va. — A plaintiff in a putative class action tells the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the Credit Grantor Closed End Credit Provisions (CLEC) “strictly prohibit” a mortgage lender’s charge of insurance premiums in connection with a loan, seeking reversal of a lower federal court’s ruling that granted the lender’s motion for judgment.
August 22, 2024
Statutory Reinsurer Urges 7th Circuit To Affirm Dismissal In Preclusion Row

CHICAGO — In an appellee brief asserting in part that the appellant “has yet to provide any justification in law, equity, or logic, why [the appellee] should not be allowed to exercise the same right as the property owner,” a statutory reinsurer urges the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a dismissal ruling in an interlocutory appeal concerning whether mine subsidence claims are barred by claim and issue preclusion.
August 22, 2024
Dismissal Recommendation In Crop Insurance Interpretation Row Draws Objections

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Objecting to a Georgia federal magistrate judge’s recommendation that a crop insurance case be dismissed because it “is simply not at a stage where the Court may properly exercise its jurisdiction,” a farm argues in part that it “has shown that going forward with the arbitration under the cloud of possibly invalid or incorrect or incomplete policy or procedure interpretations will result in a wrong arbitration decision which, under current case law, cannot be challenged.”
August 22, 2024
Reinsurer Takes Timely Notice, Other Issues To 5th Circuit In Indemnity Row

NEW ORLEANS — Fighting a $2,866,423.97 judgment that includes attorney fees, a reinsurer told the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the challenged decision “appears to be the first case to vest virtually unfettered discretion with an insured (or ceding company in this case) to decide when to notify its insurer (or reinsurer) of a claim.”
August 19, 2024
Homeowners Say Insurer Wrongfully Denied Coverage For Mine Subsidence Damages

OWENSBORO, Ky. — An insured couple claims that an insurer breached its contract and acted in bad faith by denying their claim for damages to their home caused by mine subsidence because the damages were documented and clearly caused by mine subsidence and not by earth movement or wear and tear as the insurer maintained in its coverage denial letter.
August 19, 2024
District Court’s Collapse Ruling Was Not Clearly Erroneous, Insurer Says

CINCINNATI — A district court’s finding that no coverage is owed for a structurally unsound wall that remained standing after a portion of the wall collapsed during a building renovation was not clearly erroneous because the wall remained standing and did not collapse as required for coverage to be afforded under the policy, the insurer says in its Aug. 16 appellee brief filed in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
August 15, 2024
Insurer Says Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage, Exception Does Not Apply

SAN FRANCISCO — An insurer reiterates in an appellant reply brief filed in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a district court erred in finding that a pollution exclusion does not bar coverage for an underlying environmental contamination lawsuit because the underlying lawsuit fails to allege that there was any sudden and accidental pollution.
August 15, 2024
Insureds Appeal Ruling That Their Damage Was Caused By Defect, Deterioration

LOS ANGELES — Insureds are asking the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to review a California federal judge’s holding that damages to their property “were caused by a defect, weakness, inadequacy, fault, or unsoundness in design, repair, construction, or materials — which in turn caused wear, tear, . . . deterioration, and wet or dry rot” and that, as a result, their loss is excluded from coverage under their homeowners insurance policy.
August 15, 2024
Building Owner Appeals No Coverage Ruling In Suit Over Structural Damage

PHOENIX — A building owner insured filed a notice in an Arizona federal court indicating that it is appealing the court’s July 26 ruling that granted a commercial property insurer’s motion for summary judgment in its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for structural damage to its building, challenging the court’s conclusion that its loss was reasonably foreseeable and almost certain to occur and, as a result, the risk was not covered.
August 14, 2024
Insurer Argues Policy Exclusions Bar Coverage For Fraud Claims Against Insureds

CHICAGO — An insurer filed suit in an Illinois federal court, seeking a declaratory judgment that it has no duty to defend or indemnify its insureds against underlying fraud claims because various exclusions in the investment adviser, professional services and directors and officers liability insurance policy bar coverage.
August 14, 2024
Insured: Insurer Acted In Bad Faith In Denying Claim For Damage Caused By Collapse

PHILADELPHIA — An insured sued its commercial property insurer for breach of contract and bad faith in a Pennsylvania federal court, seeking coverage for damage caused by the partial collapse of the façade of a seven-story residential rental building.
August 14, 2024
Insurers: Virginia’s Public Policy Prohibits Coverage For Sex Trafficking Suit

NORFOLK, Va. — Two insurers filed suit in a Virginia federal court, seeking a declaratory judgment that they have no duty to defend or indemnify their mutual insured for a Jane Doe’s claims that she was trafficked for sex at a hotel that was owned or operated by the insured.
August 13, 2024
Federal Judge Dismisses 1 CGL Insurer From Coverage Suit Over BIPA Violation Claim

CHICAGO — Per the parties’ stipulation, a federal judge in Illinois on Aug. 12 dismissed without prejudice the claims and counterclaims between an insured and one of its commercial general liability insurers in the insured’s lawsuit seeking a declaration as to coverage for an underlying putative class lawsuit alleging that it violated the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA) by using biometric time clocks to track employee working hours.
August 12, 2024
Marine Insurer, Insured Toss Suit After Judge Says Insured Breached Express Warranty

PHILADELPHIA — A marine insurer and a yacht owner insured filed a joint stipulation asking a Pennsylvania federal court to dismiss with prejudice all claims in the insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that the insured’s failure to recertify or inspect its fire-suppression equipment rendered its maritime insurance policy void from the beginning approximately one month after a judge granted the insurer’s motion for summary judgment and found that the insured breached the express warranty.
August 07, 2024
Insurer Seeks Extension In $3.8M Murdaugh Housekeeper Heirs Settlement Dispute

CHARLESTON, S.C. — An insurer moved for an extension to respond to parties opposing the insurer’s bid for reconsideration of a South Carolina federal court’s ruling denying summary judgment to the insurer in its suit seeking a declaration that it is entitled to recover the $3.8 million it paid to settle a claim brought by the estate of Alex Murdaugh’s former housekeeper, which the estate never received due to the purported fraud of Murdaugh and his alleged conspirators.
August 07, 2024
Progressive Seeks To Void Insured’s Auto Policy, Deny ‘Staged’ Accident Coverage

FLORENCE, S.C. — Progressive Direct Insurance Co. filed suit in a South Carolina federal court against its insured and passengers in her vehicle that was in an accident, seeking a declaration that the insured’s auto policy is void due to material misrepresentations she purportedly made in the policy application and seeking a declaration that no coverage is owed for the auto accident that Progressive Direct claims was “staged.”
August 07, 2024
Insurers, Claims Administrator Seek Dismissal Of Lawsuit Over Asbestos Judgment

NEW YORK — Sparring with a man who obtained a multimillion-dollar asbestos exposure judgment against a dissolved manufacturer, a third-party claims administrator urges a New York federal court to grant its dismissal motion, arguing in its reply brief that it “has located no legal precedent to support” the man’s theory that he is “an ‘implied assignee’” of the manufacturer.
August 06, 2024
Disability Claimant Says Award Of Benefits, Not Remand, Is Appropriate Remedy

BALTIMORE — Reconsideration of a Maryland federal judge’s decision to remand a long-term disability (LTD) benefits claim is warranted because an award of benefits, rather than remand of the claim, is the appropriate form of relief, a disability claimant says in a reply brief in support of her motion for partial reconsideration of the judge’s ruling.
August 06, 2024
Texas Panel Affirms Take-Nothing Judgment In Hailstorm Coverage Dispute

DALLAS — A Texas appeals court affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a homeowners insurer in a breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from hailstorm damage, finding that the insurer did not breach the insurance policy because of its denial of the insureds’ demands to pay the appraisal award.
August 06, 2024
Parties Dispute ‘Insurrection,’ Other Issues In Post-Trial Appeal Of Oil Seizure Row

NEW YORK — A partial summary judgment ruling, judicial notice and a jury instruction on causation are all at issue in a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case filed by reinsurers who were ordered to pay CITGO Petroleum Corp. more than $72.5 million in a suit stemming from the February 2020 seizure of crude oil at a Venezuelan port and involving a marine cargo reinsurance policy.
August 05, 2024
Insurers Announce Settlement In Coverage Dispute Over Faulty Construction Claims

DENVER — A plaintiff insurer and one of the defendant insurers filed a joint notice of settlement in a Colorado federal court in a dispute over coverage for a construction company accused of causing damages to homes through faulty construction.
August 05, 2024
Judge Dismisses Two Parties In State Farm’s Auto Accident No-Fault Fraud Suit

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — After State Farm filed a stipulation of dismissal as to two parties, a New York federal judge issued docket-only orders dismissing a physical therapy practice and a physical therapist as defendants in State Farm’s suit alleging that medical providers submitted for reimbursement to State Farm fraudulent bills for ineligible or medically unnecessary services provided to auto accident victims eligible for State Farm no-fault benefits.
August 01, 2024
Insurer Asks Panel To Vacate Dismissal Of Appeal In Hurricane Michael Appraisal Suit

ATLANTA —A commercial property insurer asked the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its conclusion that a Florida federal court failed to properly certify a partial final judgment order in favor of a church insured for immediate review pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b), challenging the court’s dismissal of its appeal in a Hurricane Matthew coverage dispute for lack of jurisdiction.
July 31, 2024
Plaintiffs Seek Reargument In Coverage Dispute Over Earplug Liability Claims

WILMINGTON, Del. — Plaintiffs seeks reargument of a Delaware judge’s ruling in favor of liability insurers in their lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying earplug product liability multidistrict litigation that resulted in a $6 billion settlement and millions of dollars of defense costs, challenging the judge’s finding that they have failed to demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact regarding their satisfaction of the self-insured retention under any of the insurance policies.