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Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

  • December 19, 2025

    Insured Railroad Company Says Carriers Owe Coverage For Settlement Of Asbestos Suit

    BOSTON — A number of insurers of a railroad company breached their contracts of insurance and acted in bad faith by refusing to reimburse an insured for a settlement of an underlying asbestos personal injury suit, the insured says in a complaint filed in Massachusetts state court.

  • December 18, 2025

    Class Counsel Seeks 5% Attorney Fee Award In ACA Class Action

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Class counsel filed a reply brief in further support of their request for an attorney fee award of 5% of settlement classes’ net in a risk-corridor payment class action under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), arguing that the fee would not result in an “unjustified windfall.”

  • December 18, 2025

    Chemical Facility Owner Says Coverage Owed For Mercury Exposure Suits

    BATON ROUGE, La. — An insurer has a duty to defend the owner of a chemical facility named in almost 200 underlying suits alleging bodily injury claims as a result of exposure to mercury at the chemical facility because the facility owner is named as an additional insured under the policies, the owner says in a Dec. 17 complaint filed in Louisiana federal court.

  • December 18, 2025

    Judge Won’t Amend Judgment As To Defective Bin Coverage

    INDIANAPOLIS — A federal judge in Indiana denied a grain production firm’s motion to alter or amend a partial summary judgment order in favor of a grain equipment company’s insurer, again holding that some of the claimed losses for the repair and replacement of leaky grain storage bins related to a contractual dispute rather than to coverage liability.

  • December 16, 2025

    Discovery Is Among Issues In 6th Circuit Appeal Of Non-ERISA Disability Case

    CINCINNATI — Seeking reversal or at least remand of a decision upholding denial of her claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits, a project director who stopped working because of symptoms she attributed to long COVID tells the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in her Dec. 15 opening brief that the trial court used the wrong standard of review and improperly denied her request for discovery and the appellees “acted arbitrarily by failing to consider critical treating-source medical opinions, relying on a materially inaccurate medical reviewer report, and dismissing [her] well-documented subjective symptoms.”

  • December 15, 2025

    2nd Circuit Sets Argument In LTD Benefits Case Centered On Review Standard

    NEW YORK — Standard of review is the sole issue in an appeal where the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear oral argument on Jan. 12 regarding a denial of long-term disability (LTD) benefits appeal that was upheld under the arbitrary and capricious review standard in the trial court; the parties dispute whether the insurer had discretionary authority and whether it complied with claim regulations.

  • December 11, 2025

    Insurers Say No Coverage Owed For Suit Arising From Hyperbaric Chamber Death

    FLINT, Mich. — Insurers ask a federal court in Michigan to declare that they have no duty to defend or indemnify their insured and its employees against an underlying negligence lawsuit arising from the death of a minor who was receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment at the insured’s facility.

  • December 09, 2025

    Dismissal Of 10 Captive Insurance Mismanagement Claims Sought By Managers

    NEW YORK — An insurance services firm, its captive affiliate and its general counsel say in a partial motion to dismiss filed in a New York federal court that all claims asserted by four insurers alleging mismanagement of a captive program, except for breach of a reinsurance agreement, should be dismissed as legally insufficient, duplicative of contract remedies or barred by lack of standing.

  • December 08, 2025

    Review Of Jurisdiction Issue In PFAS Exposure Suit Not Warranted, Insurer Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should deny an insured’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that a district court erred in remanding a declaratory judgment claim and retaining jurisdiction over breach of contract and bad faith claims in a dispute over coverage for underlying per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure suits because every other federal appellate court agrees with the Sixth Circuit’s disposition, an insurer says in its Dec. 5 response brief.

  • December 05, 2025

    Father Of Minor Accused Of N.C. Shooting Rampage Seeks To Dismiss Insurer’s Suit

    RALEIGH, N.C.— The father of an unemancipated minor accused of going on shooting rampage that killed several people in a Raleigh neighborhood asked a North Carolina federal court on Dec. 4 to dismiss his homeowners insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that it has no duty to defend and indemnify against the underlying action, arguing that the court lacks personal jurisdiction over him because the insurer failed to effect timely service of its complaint.

  • December 05, 2025

    11th Circuit Cites Social Media As Factor In Affirming Ruling For LTD Insurer

    ATLANTA — Saying in an unpublished per curiam opinion that the multiple physician reviews that a long-term disability (LTD) insurer obtained and the claimant’s “social media activity” and medical records constituted substantial evidence for terminating benefits under a group insurance policy’s any-occupation definition of disability, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the insurer.

  • December 04, 2025

    Insurer-Insured Debate Postjudgment Interest After Asbestos Award

    NEW ORLEANS — An insurer in a Dec. 3 response asks for clarification of the period for which insured seeks prejudgment interest after a federal judge in Louisiana entered final judgment for an asbestos defendant on a $338,000 breach of contract claim.

  • December 04, 2025

    Parties Dispute Scope Of Arbitration In Reinsurance Legionnaires’ Suit

    DETROIT — Following a motion hearing, a reinsured entity and the defendants in a lawsuit over claims related to Legionnaires’ disease filed supplemental briefs in a Michigan federal court addressing the defendants’ motion to dismiss, with the defendants asserting that the reinsured entity’s claims arise out of a governing arbitration clause and must be stayed under federal law, and the reinsured entity countering that the dispute falls outside that provision because the assignee is not a party to the operative reinsurance agreement.

  • December 03, 2025

    School Board: Each Shot Fired Constitutes Separate Occurrence Under Policy

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A school board insured sued its general liability insurer for breach of contract in a Florida court seeking $17,411,192 in coverage for its defense and settlement of multiple underlying actions arising from the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people, alleging that each shot fired constituted a separate occurrence under the policy.

  • December 02, 2025

    Insured Appeals Court’s Ruling That It Failed To Toll Statute Of Limitations

    CHICAGO — A condominium association insured filed a notice on Dec. 1 appealing an Illinois federal court’s grant of an insurer’s motion for summary judgment in its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from hail and wind damage to the roofs of its 27-building condominium complex.

  • December 02, 2025

    No Defense, Indemnity Owed For Underlying Silica Dust Exposure Suits, Insurer Says

    MINNEAPOLIS — A commercial liability insurer says in a complaint filed in Minnesota federal court that it owes no duty to defend or indemnify its insured against underlying bodily injury suits stemming from exposure to silica dust emitted from the insured’s quartz products because its policies’ pollution exclusions bar coverage for the underlying suits.

  • December 01, 2025

    Property Insurer Says Insureds’ Breach Of Contract Claim Must Be Dismissed

    TULSA, Okla. — A breach of contract claim against a property insurer must be dismissed because the insureds failed to file suit within the policy’s one-year suit limitation provision and failed to show in their amended complaint that the limitation provision should be tolled, the insurer says in a motion to dismiss filed in Oklahoma federal court.

  • November 25, 2025

    Insurer Seeks To Recover More Than $20M From Pool Chemical Manufacturer

    ATLANTA — An insurer filed suit in Georgia federal court, seeking to recover more than $20 million it paid on behalf of its insureds for damages caused by toxic chemicals released when an explosion occurred at a manufacturing facility near the insureds’ facility.

  • November 25, 2025

    Insurer Says No Coverage Owed For Underlying Mold Contamination Suit

    LOS ANGELES — No coverage is owed to an insured for an underlying bodily injury suit stemming from exposure to mold in the insured’s home because coverage is excluded pursuant to the policy’s fungus exclusion, a homeowners insurer says in a complaint filed in California state court.

  • November 24, 2025

    Illinois High Court To Decide If Pollution Exclusion Applies To Regulated Emissions

    CHICAGO — The Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments on a certified question from the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals regarding what effect, if any, a permit or regulation that authorizes emissions has in determining whether a pollution exclusion should be applied as a bar to coverage for bodily injury claims related to chemical discharges from the insured facility.

  • November 24, 2025

    Reconsideration Of Denied Dismissal Motion Sought In Captive Tax Shelter Dispute

    PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh-based corporation asks a Pennsylvania federal court to reconsider the denial of its motion to dismiss and for summary judgment in a dispute over penalties tied to the corporation’s alleged promotion of a tax shelter through a purported captive insurance program, arguing that the judge misapprehended its filings and failed to address its claim that requiring prepayment of part of the IRS promoter penalty before a jury trial violates the Seventh Amendment.

  • November 24, 2025

    Employee Accused Of Sharing Captive Insurance Trade Info Files Fraud Counterclaim

    PHOENIX — An ex-employee of an insurance brokerage firm filed an answer and counterclaim in response to the firm’s verified amended complaint alleging that he misappropriated trade secrets and breached his contract by transferring captive insurance client information to a competitor, asserting a claim for fraud and that the firm induced his continued employment through fictitious equity unit awards while concealing a forthcoming corporate acquisition that would render them worthless.

  • November 19, 2025

    Farmer Alleges Crop Insurer Wrongly Terminated Policy, Causing $396K In Losses

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A farmer filed an amended complaint in an Alabama federal court, alleging that a crop insurance provider wrongfully terminated her 2022 crop year policy and unduly reported her to a federal ineligibility database; the crop insurer seeks dismissal of the suit on the grounds that the dispute is subject to mandatory arbitration under the Federal Crop Insurance Act (FCIA).

  • November 19, 2025

    Captive Insurance Manager Opposes IRS Request To Uphold Disputed Final Rule

    KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — In opposing the Internal Revenue Service’s cross-motion for summary judgment, a captive insurance manager argues that a challenged final rule governing small captive insurance arrangements exceeds the agency’s statutory authority, lacks evidentiary support in the administrative record on the IRS’s claim that small captive insurance arrangements are abusive and relies on impermissible factors, and is therefore arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

  • November 18, 2025

    Amicus Supports NRA’s Certiorari Petition In Free Speech Suit Over Insurance Program

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amicus curiae Consumers’ Research on Nov. 18 filed a brief in support of The National Rifle Association of America (NRA)’s petition seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals holding that a former superintendent of the New York department that regulates insurance is entitled to qualified immunity on the NRA’s First Amendment coercion and retaliation claims against New York state officials and the department, arguing that “the increasing use of government threats and pressure to indirectly regulate puts constitutional rights at risk, especially the rights of individual consumers.”