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

Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

April 30, 2025
On Remand From Supreme Court, 4th Circuit Approves Kaiser Debtors’ Reorganization

RICHMOND, Va. — The plan of reorganization of Chapter 11 debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. was proposed in good faith and satisfies the asbestos bankruptcy requirements of Section 524(g) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held April 29 in affirming the plan’s confirmation on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court.
April 30, 2025
Legionnaires’ Suit Not Subject To Arbitration, Reinsured Entity Says

DETROIT — A reinsured entity is opposing a motion to dismiss in a Michigan federal court filed by the defendants in a lawsuit over claims related to Legionnaires’ disease, arguing that the defendants improperly invoked an arbitration provision and failed to seek concurrence before filing and that the underlying issues fall outside the arbitration provision because they stem from an unprocured and undisclosed agreement.
April 30, 2025
Residents Sue State-Mandated Insurer ‘Of Last Resort’ Over Los Angeles Wildfires

LOS ANGELES — California residents sued the California Fair Plan Association (CFPA) and its largest members in a state court seeking damages for the defendants’ alleged bad faith breach of their property insurance policies following the Los Angeles wildfires in January.
April 30, 2025
Assignee Seeks To Appeal Suit Against Insurance Agency To Pennsylvania High Court

PHILADELPHIA — An insured’s assignee filed a petition in a Pennsylvania court asking for allowance to appeal the court’s ruling that affirmed a lower court’s grant of an insurance agency’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in its breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying wrongful death settlement, challenging the court’s finding that the suit is barred by the statute of limitations.
April 29, 2025
Insurer Asks 5th Circuit To Reconsider Ruling In Bad Faith Suit Over Hurricane Laura

NEW ORLEANS — An insurer on April 28 asked the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider the part of its ruling that affirmed a lower federal court’s judgment in favor of a church insured in a bad faith lawsuit arising from Hurricane Laura damage, challenging the appellate court’s findings as to jurisdiction, appraisal and policy valuation and bad faith.
April 25, 2025
Oral Argument Set In Challenge To Rehab Plan For Workers’ Comp Insurer

SAN FRANCISCO — Oral argument is scheduled in the First District California Court of Appealin a workers’ compensation insurance carrier’s challenge to a nonconsensual rehabilitation plan that was approved as part of conservation proceedings brought by California’s insurance regulator and includes resolution of dozens of reinsurance participation agreement (RPA) lawsuits.
April 23, 2025
Contractors’ Insurers Appeal Ruling That Subcontractors’ Acts Caused Water Leak

NEW ORLEANS — A general contractor’s insurers on April 22 filed notice that they are appealing a Louisiana federal judge’s ruling granting summary judgment to two subcontractors who were responsible for installing a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system and the subcontractors’ insurers after finding that the plaintiff insurers failed to show that the subcontractors’ acts or omissions caused or contributed to a water leak in the HVAC system.
April 23, 2025
Underlying Plaintiff Says Asbestos, Pollution Exclusions Do Not Preclude Coverage

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — An insurer owes a duty to defend and indemnify its insureds in an underlying suit stemming from the insureds’ alleged improper disposal of construction debris because the policy’s asbestos and pollution exclusions do not bar coverage as the underlying suit alleges other potentially covered claims, the underlying plaintiff maintains in a cross-motion for summary judgment and in a response to the insurer’s motion for summary judgment.
April 23, 2025
Policyholder Asks To Intervene, Contest Benefits Cap In Insurer Rehabilitation

WATERBURY, Conn. — A corporate policyholder holding $18 million in death benefits from a life insurer in rehabilitation moved to intervene in a Connecticut state court action, seeking involvement in future proceedings and participation in discovery, arguing that a moratorium order capping payout at $300,000 per insured policy imposes a disproportionate financial burden and violates priority rules under state insurance law.
April 23, 2025
Class Action Alleges Toyota, Progressive Violated Federal Wiretap Act

SHERMAN, Texas — A class action was filed in a Texas federal court alleging Toyota Motor North America Inc., Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. and a provider of data analytics services in the automotive industry violated the Federal Wiretap Act and seeking to hold the defendants responsible for the injuries they inflicted on tens of thousands of class members because of their unauthorized collection and dissemination of private information from Toyota vehicles.
April 22, 2025
Homeowners Accuse Insurers Of ‘Nefarious Conspiracy’ In Suit Arising From Wildfires

LOS ANGELES — California homeowners affected by the Los Angeles wildfires sued insurers in a California court for violations of the state’s Cartwright Act and unfair competition law (UCL), alleging that the insurers participated in a “nefarious conspiracy to eliminate competition between them, and to intentionally and systematically force Plaintiffs to obtain fire insurance from the state’s insurer of last resort.”
April 22, 2025
Discovery Spat In Bad Faith Indemnity Row Involves Reserve, Reinsurance Information

STATESVILLE, N.C. — In a reply brief urging a North Carolina federal court to compel certain discovery, the plaintiff in a bad faith suit over an excess liability insurer’s alleged duty to indemnify argues, among other things, that the insurer “makes bare assertions that reserve information and communications with reinsurers are subject to attorney-client privilege or attorney work product protection on a categorical basis.”
April 22, 2025
Insurers Owe Coverage For Environmental Contamination, Remediation Costs, IBM Says

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Insurers of International Business Machines Corp. owe coverage for more than $900 million in costs incurred by IBM to remediate environmental contamination discovered at or near IBM’s manufacturing facilities because the policies under which IBM seeks coverage do not include a pollution exclusion and provide coverage for property damage caused by an occurrence, IBM says in a complaint filed in New York federal court.
April 21, 2025
Insured Seeks Coverage For More Than $50M In Losses Caused By Coronavirus

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A limited partnership that owns and operates shopping centers containing outlet stores sued its primary and excess insurers for declaratory relief and breach of contract in a North Carolina court, alleging that the lawsuit is “necessitated” by the insurers’ failure and refusal to indemnify it for “tens of millions of dollars in losses” caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
April 18, 2025
Suquamish Tribe Opposes Insurers’ High Court Petition In Tribal Jurisdiction Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Suquamish Tribe in Washington filed an opposition to insurers’ petition for writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine “whether a tribal court can exercise jurisdiction over nonmembers of the tribe based on off-reservation conduct,” asking the high court to not disturb the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ opinion that affirmed a federal court’s finding that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over a COVID-19 coverage suit involving tribal properties on tribal land.
April 18, 2025
Captive Insurance Manager Seeks IRS Rule Injunction, Alleges Agency Overreach

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Invoking both the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act), a captive insurance manager filed a complaint in a federal court in Tennessee challenging an Internal Revenue Service final rule targeting small captive tax avoidance schemes, requesting that the regulation be set aside as unlawful, arbitrary and capricious and an overreach of statutory authority.
April 17, 2025
Plaintiffs Lack DUFTA Standing, Insurance Holding Company Says In Delaware Court

WILMINGTON, Del. — Arguing that the plaintiffs in a putative class suit lack standing to bring a Delaware Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (DUFTA) claim, an insurance holding company and its affiliates seek summary judgment in the Delaware Chancery Court over an alleged scheme to strip capital from an insurance subsidiary on which many policyholders depend for long-term care (LTC) disability benefits.
April 16, 2025
Insureds Seek Coverage For 11 Suits Alleging Human Trafficking At Red Roof Hotels

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Insured hotel companies sued their general liability insurer in an Ohio federal court for breach of contract and bad faith, alleging that the insurer arbitrarily and capriciously denied coverage for 11 underlying lawsuits alleging that human trafficking occurred at various Red Roof hotels.
April 15, 2025
NFL Plan To 5th Circuit: Let Fee Award Appeal Proceed In Disability Benefits Row

NEW ORLEANS — Telling the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the issues raised are not “grounds for dismissal” and that it “could not have forfeited an appeal of the new fee award and opinion before they existed, when the case was in the opposite posture,” the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan on April 14 asked to be allowed to proceed with its appeal of an award of more than $1.25 million in attorney fees and costs to a former National Football League player.
April 15, 2025
Engineer To 4th Circuit: Affirm Ruling In Long COVID Disability Benefits Case

RICHMOND, Va. — Contending in part that de novo review was correctly applied because of an “inexcusable failure to issue a timely decision,” a long-term disability (LTD) benefits claimant urged the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a judgment that she is owed past-due benefits because long COVID symptoms have disabled her from working as an engineer.
March 20, 2025
Insurer To 4th Circuit: Overturn Ruling In Long COVID Disability Benefits Case

RICHMOND, Va. — Arguing that the lower court improperly applied de novo review and wrongly concluded that the claimant showed that she is disabled from working as an engineer because of long COVID symptoms, an insurer urged the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a judgment that the claimant is owed past-due long-term disability (LTD) benefits.
April 15, 2025
Bad Faith Suit: CFPA Systematically Failed To Investigate, Pay Wildfire Claims

LOS ANGELES — Plaintiffs sued California Fair Plan Association (CFPA) and its “largest” members for breach of contract and bad faith in a California court, seeking compensation for their losses incurred by the January Los Angeles wildfires and to hold CFPA “accountable for its decade-long, systematic failure to properly investigate and pay wildfire claims.”
April 15, 2025
Skechers Seeks Coverage For Injury Claims Caused By Shoes’ Lack Of Slip-Resistance

LOS ANGELES — Skechers USA Inc. sued its commercial liability insurer in a California court for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and unfair competition, alleging that the insurer has a duty to defend it against an underlying action contending that class members were harmed by actual physical accidents caused by the insured’s shoes’ lack of slip-resistance or by the fact that the shoes were unusable.
April 14, 2025
Insured Dismisses 1 Insurer In Coverage Dispute Over Earplug Product Liability Claims

WILMINGTON, Del. — Plaintiffs and one of their liability insurers filed in a Delaware court a stipulation and proposed order of voluntary dismissal with prejudice of all claims between them in a coverage lawsuit arising from an underlying earplug product liability multidistrict litigation that resulted in a $6 billion settlement and millions of dollars in defense costs.
April 14, 2025
Dismissal Bid Fought In Dispute Over Disability Policy ‘Age 65’ Language

PHOENIX — Arguing in part that the defendants’ “desired interpretation runs counter to the well-pleaded facts, the parties’ expectations, any reasonable consumer’s expectations, and decisional law,” a plaintiff on April 11 urged an Arizona federal court to deny dismissal of his putative class complaint over whether certain individual long-term disability (LTD) benefits must be paid through eligible insureds’ 65th birthdays.