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

Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

December 06, 2024
LTD Benefits Wrongfully Terminated Based On Policy Limitation, Claimant Says

DENVER — A disability insurer and its claims administrator wrongfully terminated a claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits based on the policy’s limitation for mental or nervous disorders, a disability claimant contends in a complaint filed in Colorado federal court.
December 05, 2024
Total Disability Questions Should Be Certified To La. High Court, Claimant Says

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should withdraw an unpublished opinion entered in favor of a disability insurer and certify two questions of law to the Louisiana Supreme Court regarding whether a disability claimant was required to prove that she was disabled from performing all of the duties of her occupation as a pharmacist in order to meet the policy’s definition of total disability, the claimant maintains.
December 03, 2024
Restaurant, Insurer Seek Dismissal Of Suit Over Looting Damage After Hurricane Maria

ST. CROIX, Virgin Islands — A restaurant insured and its insurer filed a stipulation in federal court in the Virgin Islands seeking dismissal with prejudice of all claims and counterclaims in their dispute over the insurer’s adjustment of the insured’s property damage claim and business interruption losses arising from looting after Hurricane Maria.
December 03, 2024
Appellate Briefing Complete In Construction Insurance Dispute Over Sprinkler Leak

NEW ORLEANS — An excess insurer filed its reply brief in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals defending its appeal of a Louisiana federal court’s rulings that first granted a manufacturer’s motion for summary judgment in a construction insurance dispute stemming from damages caused by a sprinkler leak and then dismissed all of the excess insurer’s claims against the manufacturer with prejudice.
December 02, 2024
Insured Says Property Insurer Acted In Bad Faith In Handling Water Damage Claim

SEATTLE — An insured condominium owners association filed suit in Washington federal court, alleging that its property insurer acted in bad faith by failing to investigate and make a coverage decision regarding the association’s claim for hidden water damage discovered in condominium buildings maintained by the association.
December 02, 2024
Construction Company Alleges Bad Faith Cross-Claim Against CGL Insurer

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —A construction company insured answered a commercial general liability insurer’s first amended complaint and filed cross-claims for breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and seeks equitable contribution as assignee of an excess insurer that funded its $2,250,000 settlement of an underlying construction defects lawsuit.
November 22, 2024
New York Care Homes Sued By Attorney General Settle Medicare Fraud Suit For $45M

NEW YORK — New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that multiple nursing homes and their owners and operators sued in the New York County Supreme Court have agreed to pay $45 million to settle a suit against them alleging understaffing and resident neglect, as well as fraud and misuse of Medicare and Medicaid funds.
November 22, 2024
Indemnification Claims Challenged In Suit Over Clash Reinsurance

NEW YORK — Arguing inconsistency and seeking a declaration that it doesn’t have a duty to indemnify an insurer that settled claims stemming from alleged sexual abuse of female athletes by Larry Nassar and others, a reinsurer sued the insurer in New York federal court.
November 21, 2024
Radioactive Materials Exclusion Clearly Bars Coverage, Insurers Maintain

CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should affirm a district court’s finding that no coverage is owed by insurers pursuant to the policies’ radioactive materials exclusion for an underlying suit seeking damages for bodily injuries caused by exposure to electromagnetic (EMF) radiation from the insured’s electric transformers because the radioactive materials exclusion clearly bars coverage, the insurers say in their Nov. 20 appellee brief.
November 20, 2024
Trump Corp. Sues Employment Practices Liability Insurer For Breach Of Contract

NEW YORK — The Trump Corp. sued it employment practices liability insurer in a New York federal court for breach of contract and seeks a declaration that the insurer has a duty to defend and indemnify it against a terminated employee’s lawsuit alleging unpaid overtime, age discrimination and breach of contract.
November 20, 2024
Insured Seeks Coverage For Disparagement Suit Brought By Maker Of COVID Test

PHILADELPHIA — An insured sued its commercial umbrella insurer in a Pennsylvania federal court seeking personal and advertising coverage for an underlying disparagement lawsuit alleging that it sent 19,000 letters to Chester County residents asserting that the COVID-19 test kits they used were unreliable.
November 20, 2024
Insurers: Auto Makers Failed To Recall Vehicles With Potential Deadly Defects

SANTA ANA, Calif.— Automobile and property insurers filed a subrogation lawsuit on behalf of their insureds against automotive manufacturers, telling a California court that the defendants “purposefully and knowingly failed to recall millions of their defective vehicles” that contained “potentially deadly defects” and, as a result, put “countless lives at risk from 2006 to date” and caused their insureds to suffer property damage including the loss of use of their vehicles.
November 19, 2024
Federal Class Action Complaint Accuses Auto Insurer, Law Firm Of Barratry

HOUSTON — Insureds filed a class action complaint in a Texas federal court against an automobile insurer and a law firm alleging that they committed barratry, conspiracy and statutory violations by illegally sharing the personal information of car accident victims for solicitation.
November 18, 2024
Insurer Says Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage For Chemical Injury Suits

RICHMOND, Va. — An insurer contends in a complaint filed in Virginia federal court that no coverage is owed to its insured for underlying suits alleging injuries caused by an influx of chlorine and muriatic acid into the insured homeowners association’s pool because the policy’s pollution exclusion bars coverage for the suits.
November 18, 2024
Philadelphia Eagles Ask Court To Reconsider Dismissal Of COVID-19 Coverage Suit

PHILADELPHIA — The owner and operator of the Philadelphia Eagles football organization moved for a Pennsylvania federal court to reconsider the dismissal of its action seeking a declaration as to coverage for its losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, asserting that the present lawsuit “is unlike any other that already has been decided and warrants proceeding past a motion to dismiss.”
November 15, 2024
Defendants Seeks Extension In $1B RICO Insurance Fraud Scheme Involving Magnate

RALEIGH, N.C. — Defendant asset management companies on Nov. 15 moved in North Carolina federal court for more time to respond to an amended complaint in a suit accusing them, former insurance magnate Greg E. Lindberg and other parties of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) violations related to their purported participation in a $1 billion scheme to defraud now-insolvent insurers once owned by Lindberg.
November 14, 2024
Government Files Counterclaim In Suit Over Captive Insurance Program, Penalties

PITTSBURGH — In a text-only order, a Pennsylvania federal judge removed the Internal Revenue Service from the caption of a dispute over a suit over penalties resulting from that agency’s decision that a Pittsburgh-based corporation’s involvement with a purported captive insurance program constituted tax shelter promotion; additionally, the government has moved to dismiss or strike a laches claim and asserted a counterclaim.
November 13, 2024
Amicus Bid Is Contested In 6th Circuit Appeal Of Collateral Estoppel Ruling

CINCINNATI — A request for permission to file an amicus curiae brief in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has drawn a reinsurer’s opposition in the appeal of a ruling that collateral estoppel applies to a defense costs dispute concerning asbestos lawsuits and prior arbitration.
November 12, 2024
Insurers Say Kia, Hyundai Disregarded Dangerous Defects For Years

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Several insurers filed a complaint in subrogation in California state court accusing the makers of Kia and Hyundai-brand cars of causing insureds harm in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by failing to report or recall vehicles with dangerous electrical defects, including spontaneously catching fire while deactivated.
November 12, 2024
Insurer Asks Georgia Federal Court To Find No Coverage Owed For Wrongful Death Suit

ATLANTA — A commercial general liability insurer filed a lawsuit in a Georgia federal court, seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify its tavern operator insured against an underlying wrongful death lawsuit, asserting that the underlying bodily injury did not take place at the policy’s “Designated Location” to trigger coverage and the policy’s “assault and battery,” “expected or intended injury,” “liquor liability” and “duty to defend” exclusions bar coverage.
November 12, 2024
Group Outlines Dismissal Arguments In Another Reinsurer’s RICO Lawsuit

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — As it has done in a similar Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act suit that a different reinsurer filed in New York federal court over purportedly fraudulent workers’ compensation claims and personal injury lawsuits, a group of defendants filed a pre-motion letter outlining plans to seek dismissal.
November 12, 2024
Pollution Liability Insurer Objects To Report, Says Suit Should Be Transferred

LAFAYETTE, La. — An insurer contends that a Louisiana federal magistrate’s report and recommendation should not be adopted because the magistrate judge incorrectly determined that a suit filed by insureds, who seeks coverage for an underlying contamination suit, should be transferred to Oklahoma federal court where a similar suit filed by the insurer is pending.
November 11, 2024
Insured Asks 4th Circuit To Reconsider No Coverage Ruling For Cryptocurrency Loss

RICHMOND, Va. — An insured filed a petition seeking a rehearing or rehearing en banc of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmation of a lower court’s dismissal of his breach of contract lawsuit seeking homeowners insurance coverage for his alleged $170,000 cryptocurrency loss, challenging the courts’ findings that the loss of cryptocurrency is not a “direct physical loss” to trigger policy coverage.
November 08, 2024
Insurers Dispute Coverage For BIPA Violation Class Action Against Taco Bell Owners

NEW ORLEANS — Commercial general liability and umbrella insurers filed a complaint in an Illinois federal court seeking a declaratory judgment that they have no duty to defend and indemnify against an underlying class action lawsuit alleging that the owners and operators of Taco Bell restaurants in Illinois violated the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
November 08, 2024
Disability Claimant Appeals Judge’s Any-Occupation Ruling To 11th Circuit

MIAMI — A disability claimant filed a notice of appeal on Nov. 7 to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals following a Florida federal judge’s determination that a disability insurer’s termination of benefits after 11 years was not arbitrary and capricious based on the disability insurer’s extensive review of the claimant’s conditions and her ability to work in any occupation.