Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

  • February 13, 2025

    Reinsurer, General Agent Dispute Reporting Requirements In Breach Of Contract Suit

    FORT WORTH, Texas — Whether a general agent had to report certain developments to a reinsurer or just to the insurer in a dispute that resulted in a multimillion-dollar personal injury judgment is the focus of partial summary judgment briefing in the reinsurer’s breach of contract suit against the general agent in Texas federal court.

  • February 12, 2025

    Insurer Says No Coverage Owed To Flint, Mich., Hospital Over Water Crisis Claims

    DETROIT — An insurance company on Feb. 11 sued McLaren Health Care Corp. in Michigan federal court arguing that it has no duty to indemnify McLaren in connection with a $641 million settlement that was reached in the litigation over the lead-contaminated water claims in the city of Flint, Mich., where McLaren runs a hospital in which patients were injured during the Flint water crisis.  The insurer says it has no duty to indemnify McLaren and argues that it has “no liability of any kind” under the policy it issued.

  • February 12, 2025

    Government: Cases In ACA Reinsurance Dispute Were Properly Ruled Untimely

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing that U.S. Supreme Court precedents foreclose equitable tolling of the statute of limitations in Tucker Act class actions, the U.S. government urged the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold a ruling that group health plans’ consolidated cases challenging exactions made under the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) were untimely.

  • February 12, 2025

    Diocese Of Trenton Seeks Coverage For ‘Onslaught’ Of Child Sexual Abuse Claims

    TRENTON, N.J. — The Diocese of Trenton filed a declaratory judgment and breach of contract lawsuit in a New Jersey federal court seeking coverage for hundreds of underlying claims brought

  • February 11, 2025

    Insurer Seeks To Void Policy Over Prior Policy Cancellation Misrepresentation

    CHICAGO — An Arizona-based insurer sued its insured gym operator seeking to rescind a commercial lines policy based on the insured’s purported misrepresentations in the policy application by not providing information about a lapse in coverage, a nonrenewal due to a history of loss and a cancellation for nonpayment, arguing that the insurer would have issued the policy under different conditions, if at all, if the insured had provided accurate information.

  • February 11, 2025

    Insurer Says No Coverage Due For Underlying Toxic Exposure Suit

    LOS ANGELES — A commercial general liability insurer filed suit in California federal court, seeking a declaration that no coverage is owed for an underlying suit alleging that exposure to the insured’s hair styling straightening products caused individuals to be diagnosed with cancer and leukemia because the insured failed to provide timely notice of the suit and had knowledge before the issuance of the policy that its products were unsafe.

  • February 11, 2025

    Insurer Maintains No Coverage Owed For Remediation Costs

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — No coverage is owed for investigation and remediation costs as a result of contamination discovered at and near the site of an insured dry cleaning business because no suit has been filed against the insured and because the policy pollution exclusion bars coverage, an insurer says in its reply in support of its motion for summary judgment filed in New Mexico federal court.

  • February 11, 2025

    Insurer Amends Complaint Against Surgeon In Fraud Suit Alleging ‘False Treatment’

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A Vermont-based insurer filed an amended complaint in a New York federal court in its fraud suit against a New York-based spinal surgeon, alleging that he participated in a “scheme” to defraud the insurer by submitting claims for reimbursement regarding “false treatment” and surgeries for injuries purportedly unrelated to incidents covered under the insurer’s policies.

  • February 10, 2025

    Appellant Asks 8th Circuit To Review No Coverage Ruling For Abuse-Of-Process Claim

    MINNEAPOLIS — A company filed a notice indicating that it is asking the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to review a Minnesota federal court’s grant of a commercial general liability insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in its lawsuit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify its insured against the appellant’s underlying abuse-of-process claim.

  • February 07, 2025

    Jurisdiction Issue Triggers Amended Complaint In Row Involving Legionnaires’

    DETROIT — At the direction of a Michigan federal judge who said the initial pleading didn’t adequately show diversity of citizenship, a captive insurer filed an amended complaint over claims concerning Legionnaires’ disease, alleging breach of a reinsurance agreement and seeking declaratory judgment.

  • February 07, 2025

    Corporate Attorney Alleges Disability Insurer Failed To Conduct Full, Fair Review

    LOS ANGELES — A disability insurer failed to conduct a full and fair review of a corporate attorney’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits claim because the insurer failed to address how the attorney’s physical disabilities contributed to her inability to perform her duties as a corporate attorney, the plan participant says in a Feb. 6 complaint filed in California federal court.

  • February 05, 2025

    Oral Surgeon Says Disability Benefits Owed Based On Danger Of Contracting COVID-19

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should reverse a district court’s ruling in favor of a disability insurer because the lower court erred in failing to acknowledge that an oral surgeon’s return to work would endanger his life and health based on his risk of contracting COVID-19 and suffering complications from the virus based on comorbid conditions of asthma and hypertension, the surgeon says in his appellant reply brief.

  • February 05, 2025

    Insurers Withdraw Motion For Judgment On Pleadings In Maui Wildfire Coverage Suit

    MAUI, Hawaii — Insurers withdrew their motion for judgment on the pleadings in a Hawaii court in their insureds’ bad faith action alleging that the insurers’ subrogation lawsuit seeking to recover compensation for the payments that they made to victims of the Aug. 8, 2023, Maui wildfires is “unfair, inequitable, and unlawful” because they “seek to take money away from their premium-paying insureds who are the real victims of the Maui Wildfires without showing that these victims have been fully compensated.”

  • February 04, 2025

    Home Depot Asks 6th Circuit To Rehear No Coverage Ruling In Data Breach Dispute

    CINCINNATI — Home Depot filed a petition in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking a panel rehearing of a majority ruling that affirmed an Ohio federal court’s finding that a commercial general liability insurance policy’s electronic data exclusion bars coverage for Home Depot’s losses stemming from a 2014 data breach.

  • February 04, 2025

    Competing Motions Filed In Asbestos Coverage Suit On Effect Of Noncumulation Clause

    PITTSBURGH — An insured maintains in a motion for partial summary judgment filed in Pennsylvania federal court that a noncumulation clause included in one of its excess insurer’s policies should not be enforced because the policy was changed to conform with an underlying umbrella policy; however, the excess insurer says in its motion for partial summary judgment that the noncumulation clause must be enforced to reduce the limit of liability under the policy and the amount owed to the insured for asbestos liabilities.

  • February 04, 2025

    Insurer Says Order Of Default Warranted Against Insureds In Debris Disposal Suit

    ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — An insurer filed a motion for default in Illinois federal court, maintaining that the court should enter an order of default against its insureds for failing to respond to the insurer’s second amended complaint, which seeks a declaration that its policy’s asbestos exclusion and pollution exclusion bar coverage for the alleged improper disposal of construction debris by the insured.

  • February 03, 2025

    Insureds: Insurers ‘Flouted’ Order Compelling Discovery In Defects Coverage Suit

    NEWARK, N.J. — Insureds asked a New Jersey court to dismiss their insurers’ lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying construction defects lawsuit, arguing that the insurers “have refused to meaningfully participate in the discovery process, repeatedly ignored deadlines and discovery rules, flouted this Court’s Order compelling discovery, and otherwise delayed the progression of this litigation.”

  • February 03, 2025

    Excess D&O Insurer Seeks Dismissal Of Law Firm’s Suit Seeking Payment For Invoices

    MIAMI — An excess directors and officers liability insurer moved to dismiss 11 of 12 claims in a law firm’s lawsuit seeking payment for the legal representation of its insured, alleging the law firm failed to state a cause of action and the claims are “nothing more than repeated attempts” to have the insurer pay two invoices.

  • January 28, 2025

    Pari Passu Advocated By Policyholders Seeking To Intervene In Rehabilitation

    HARTFORD, Conn. — A second motion to intervene has been filed in the Connecticut state court rehabilitation proceeding of life insurer PHL Variable Insurance Co. and the subsidiaries that reinsure its liabilities, this one by two policyholders who say their policies are worth millions and want a moratorium order to be modified to pay death benefits on a pari passu basis instead of capping such benefits at $300,000.

  • January 28, 2025

    Reinsurer To 6th Circuit: Arbitration Awards Can Be Basis For Collateral Estoppel

    CINCINNATI — Arguing in part that “judicial review of arbitration awards is still available under the Federal Arbitration Act,” a reinsurer urged the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold a ruling that collateral estoppel applies to a defense costs dispute concerning asbestos lawsuits.

  • January 28, 2025

    Suit Seeking Coverage For Chemical Exposure Injuries Removed To Federal Court

    SEATTLE — An insurer acted in bad faith and breached its contract by withdrawing its defense of an insured in an underlying suit alleging that a couple’s exposure to chemicals distributed by the insured caused the couple’s child to be born with spina bifida, the insured says in a complaint removed by the insurer to Washington federal court.

  • January 28, 2025

    Insurers Owe Defense, Indemnity For Underlying PFAS, AFFF Suits, Insured Says

    SAN FRANCISCO — An insured maintains in its reply in support of its partial motion for summary judgment, filed in California federal court, that its insurers owe coverage for underlying bodily injury and property damage lawsuits related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) allegedly contained in aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) that were manufactured, sold and distributed by the insured because the underlying suits are potentially covered under the policies and the insurers failed to prove that their policies’ pollution exclusion bars coverage.

  • January 27, 2025

    Subcontractor Offers Judgment In Suit Arising From Damage To Construction Project

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A subcontractor filed a notice in a Florida federal court serving offer of judgment to a plaintiff in its lawsuit alleging that a surety breached a performance bond by denying liability for damage to its construction project allegedly caused by the subcontractor’s “defective and deficient work.”

  • January 27, 2025

    Condo Developer Asks 10th Circuit To Reconsider Ruling Granting New Trial

    DENVER — A condominium developer filed a “relatively narrow” petition in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking a panel rehearing of the court’s grant of an new trial following its reversal of a $2.54 million jury award in favor of the developer after finding that the developer cannot recover under a builders risk insurance policy for repair costs of a cracked concrete slab that it has not paid and has no obligation to pay, arguing that rehearing is both “appropriate and necessary” to correct the court’s errors, preserve the parts of the jury verdict that were fairly found and “avoid the significant costs of a wholesale retrial.”

  • January 24, 2025

    Any-Occupation Ruling Must Be Reversed, Disability Claimant Tells 11th Circuit

    ATLANTA — A district court’s ruling that a disability insurer’s termination of benefits after 11 years was not arbitrary and capricious must be reversed because the evidence shows that the claimant’s disability worsened and that the insurer’s handling of the medical evidence was unreasonable, a disability claimant tells the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in her appellant brief.