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May 15, 2026
SEATTLE — The operators of three Denny’s franchises and their executive officer and director sued their primary and excess commercial general liability insurers in a Washington federal court for breach of contract, bad faith, declaratory relief and violations of Washington’s Insurance Fair Conduct Act and Consumer Protection Act, alleging that they had to fund the defense and $425,000 resolution of an underlying wage-and-hour class action after the insurers walked away from the mediation.
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May 15, 2026
CLEVELAND — A reinsurer seeks a declaration in an Ohio federal court that it has no obligation under facultative reinsurance certificates to reimburse an insurer for a $31 million guaranty settlement paid in an environmental coverage dispute over remediation costs at a Kentucky aerospace manufacturing site.
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May 15, 2026
LOS ANGELES — A cosmetic company insured and its commercial general liability insurer told a California federal court that they have reached a conditional settlement of the insured’s action seeking coverage for three underlying putative class action lawsuits alleging that the company deceptively sold beauty products by failing to disclose the dangerous risks and side effects of lash enhancement serums’ “key ingredient.”
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May 13, 2026
NEW YORK — A food-processing company filed a notice of appeal in a New York federal court, appealing to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals the New York court’s denial of its petition to vacate a confidential reinsurance arbitration award and grant of a reinsurer’s cross-motion to confirm the award in a dispute arising from a fire at a poultry rendering facility in Alabama.
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May 12, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should grant a petition for panel or en banc rehearing in a dispute over coverage for environmental contamination remediation costs because the panel’s finding that an annual aggregate limit provision in the umbrella liability insurer’s policies is ambiguous conflicts with a prior decision issued by the Ninth Circuit, the insurer says in its petition.
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May 11, 2026
LOS ANGELES — An interlocutory appeal is warranted in a silica exposure coverage suit because a California federal judge’s order denying a motion for judgment on the pleadings filed by the insurers involves questions of law regarding the scope and application of silica exclusions in the insurers’ policies, the insurers say in a motion for certification of interlocutory appeal.
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May 08, 2026
NEW YORK — A reinsurer filed a notice of supplemental authority urging a New York federal court to confirm two arbitration awards and reject an intergovernmental risk pool’s Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) vacatur challenge, arguing that recent reinsurance arbitration rulings involving comparable arbitration provisions held that arbitral reliance on insurance and reinsurance custom and practice, rather than rules of law, does not establish a basis for vacatur.
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May 08, 2026
PITTSBURGH — No coverage is owed to an insured for an underlying environmental contamination suit filed against it because the underlying claims are barred by the pollution exclusion included in primary and excess policies, the insurers maintain in a complaint filed in Pennsylvania federal court.
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May 08, 2026
CHICAGO — No coverage is owed under primary and umbrella policies for a state environmental agency’s notice of violation because the policies’ pollution exclusion bars coverage, two insurers say in a complaint filed in Illinois federal court.
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May 06, 2026
OAKLAND, Calif. — The California Department of Insurance accused an insurer of 432 violations following an examination and investigation into its handling of claims arising from the Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles County and ordered the insurer to show cause why it should not have to pay a monetary penalty under California Insurance Code Section 790.035 for its unfair claims settlement practices.
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May 06, 2026
WILMINGTON, Del. — Former executives and engineers of a group of insurance technology companies moved to dismiss a Delaware state court complaint, arguing that their former employers’ claims arising from allegations that they used confidential information to launch a competing reinsurance venture should be rejected for lack of personal jurisdiction, improper venue and failure to state a claim.
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May 05, 2026
LOS ANGELES — The United States of America filed a statement of interest in a lawsuit filed by California homeowners affected by the Los Angeles wildfires against their insurers for violations of the state’s Cartwright Act and unfair competition law (UCL), negligence and fraud, noting that although the action asserts only state competition law claims, the United States has a strong interest because the alleged conduct by the insurers “presents a serious concern under the federal antitrust laws.”
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May 05, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — A plastics manufacturer, a captive insurer and a microcaptive manager on May 4 appealed to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a Texas federal judge’s partial summary judgment ruling in their challenge to an IRS microcaptive disclosure rule, contesting the lower court’s determination that the agency acted within its statutory authority to require disclosure of potentially tax-avoidant transactions.
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May 05, 2026
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A company and its subsidiary sued their primary and excess insurers in a North Carolina federal court, seeking a declaration that the insurers have a duty to defend and indemnify them against Nestlé Purina Petcare Co.’s underlying claim alleging that the subsidiary supplied defective compressed air piping materials for Nestlé’s new manufacturing and distribution facility.
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April 30, 2026
AUGUSTA, Ga. — A real estate investment company sued its insurance broker in a Georgia federal court for breach of contract, estoppel, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty, alleging that the broker failed to obtain insurance coverage for 11 of its rental properties that incurred $1.1 million in damages caused by Hurricane Helene.
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April 29, 2026
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A farming partnership filed suit in a South Dakota federal court seeking judicial review of a determination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) denying a requested noncompliance finding under federal crop insurance regulations, alleging that the agency’s decision improperly blocked its ability to pursue extra-contractual damages against its insurer and agents in connection with a disputed 2017 Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) claim.
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April 29, 2026
LOS ANGELES — An insurer alleges in a California federal court that multiple companies breached guaranty agreements by failing to reimburse more than $5 million owed under a 2019 reinsurance agreement after a reinsurer defaulted and failed to indemnify the insurer.
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April 28, 2026
LOS ANGELES — An insurer maintains that reconsideration of a California federal judge’s finding that the insurer has a duty to defend its insured for underlying silica bodily injury suits is necessary because the judge failed to consider the total pollution exclusion in the insurer’s policies under the most recent and applicable California authority.
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April 28, 2026
PITTSBURGH — An insurer’s motion for reconsideration of a Pennsylvania federal judge’s ruling regarding the available limits of an insurer’s policies for underlying asbestos claims must be denied because the insurer failed to show that there was any manifest error of law or fact and because the judge properly interpreted a noncumulation clause, an insured says in response to the insurer’s motion.
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April 28, 2026
LOS ANGELES — Arguing that two regulatory bulletins unlawfully authorize insurers to shift California FAIR Plan assessment costs onto policyholders, a consumer research and advocacy organization contends in a California state court that the pass-through structure effectuated by the bulletins conflicts with the governing proportional-sharing mandate and cannot be sustained under the state’s insurance ratemaking framework.
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April 27, 2026
DETROIT — A reinsurer and a claims handler argue in a supplemental brief filed in Michigan federal court that a captive insurer’s claims against the nonparty claims handler in a dispute over coverage for Legionnaires’ disease claims under a reinsurance agreement fail because the complaint alleges no duty, breach or concrete injury sufficient to establish a justiciable controversy and, in any event, concern issues arising out of the agreement that must be resolved in a pending arbitration.
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April 27, 2026
GREENBELT, Md.— A pharmaceutical company insured filed a notice appealing a Maryland federal court’s grant of a directors and officers liability insurer’s motion to dismiss its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking a declaration as to coverage for an underlying antitrust action arising from its acquisition of the rights to distribute a prescription medication used to treat mobility issues in people with advanced Parkinson's disease.
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April 27, 2026
AUGUSTA, Ga. — An attorney insured and his wife filed a notice indicating that they are appealing a Georgia federal court’s summary judgment ruling that a lawyer’s professional liability insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify against an underlying trade secrets lawsuit, challenging the court’s holding that the underlying action contains claims that are, at most, incidental to his performance of legal services and do not arise from any acts the insured took in rendering professional services.
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April 27, 2026
JASPER, Ala. — A long-term disability (LTD) recipient is headed to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to challenge an Alabama federal court ruling that lets stand the plan administrator’s decision to withhold her monthly benefit until it has recovered more than $16,000 that it said she was overpaid due to “a Social Security benefit for disabled widows” that the administrator determined should be offset.
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April 24, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — A paint contractor’s insurer agreed to voluntarily dismiss its claims against a property owner’s insurer in a declaratory judgment case the contractor’s insurer brought seeking a declaration that it did not have a duty to defend and indemnify the contractor or others in underlying actions stemming from a fire that damaged property in San Francisco.