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Mealey's Insurance

March 11, 2025
Trial Court Properly Found Insurer Was Prevailing Party In Water Damage Suit

FRANKFORT, Ky. — A trial court did not err in determining that a homeowners insurer was the prevailing party in a water damage coverage dispute because the insureds agreed to dismiss their breach of contract claim prior to trial and the insureds failed to prove their claims for bad faith and violation of the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act (KCPA), the Kentucky Court of Appeals said.
March 11, 2025
Vermont High Court Affirms Quash Of Insurer Subpoena In J&J Talc Coverage Suit

MONTPELIER, Vt. — An insurer trying to escape liability for a verdict against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in an asbestos-talc bodily injury mass tort litigation improperly served an out-of-state subpoena on a regulatory department for information filed by the company’s captive insurance company without first establishing that the information it sought was not available from other nonconfidential sources, the Vermont Supreme Court found, upholding a trial court's decision to quash the subpoena.
March 11, 2025
Insured’s Water Damage Suit Properly Dismissed For Lack Of Ripeness, Panel Says

PASADENA, Calif. — A district court properly dismissed an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith suit stemming from a water damage coverage dispute because the insured’s claims are not ripe based on a petition filed by the property insurer in Rhode Island state court to appoint an umpire to conduct an appraisal proceeding, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in affirming the lower court’s ruling.
March 11, 2025
Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage For Insured’s Contamination Claims

NEW YORK — A New York County Supreme Court justice granted a motion for summary judgment filed by insurers in an environmental contamination coverage suit after determining that the pollution exclusion in the various insurers’ policies bars coverage for the environmental contamination and that the sudden and accidental exception to the exclusion does not apply to provide coverage for the contamination.
March 10, 2025
COMMENTARY: Sustainability Recalibration: What Insurers And Policyholders Should Know About ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance Considerations) Under Trump 2.0, Part 2

By Scott M. Seaman
March 10, 2025
Reinsurance Dispute Closed After Parties Agree To Dismiss All Claims

OMAHA, Neb. — A federal judge in Nebraska dismissed with prejudice a suit involving a reinsurance contract and a settlement with the state of Montana over alleged asbestos exposures, following a joint stipulation between the parties to dismiss all claims.
March 05, 2025
‘Plausible’ Interpretations Doom Summary Judgment Bids In Reinsurance Row

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Calling both sides’ interpretations of facultative reinsurance certificates “plausible,” a New York federal judge denied competing summary judgment motions in a breach of contract suit involving a confidential environmental losses settlement.
March 04, 2025
Illinois Federal Judge Enters Default Against Insureds In Debris Disposal Suit

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge entered an order of default against insureds who failed 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.
March 04, 2025
Silica Exposure Lawsuits Involve More Than 1 Occurrence, Insured Says In Complaint

NEW YORK — A commercial general liability insurer breached its contract and acted in bad faith by determining that more than 100 underlying silica exposure lawsuits filed against the insured are subject to coverage under only one insurance policy and involve only a single occurrence under the policy, an insured alleges in a complaint filed in New York federal court.
March 04, 2025
Insurer’s Complaint In Asbestos Coverage Dispute Properly Dismissed, Panel Says

ST. LOUIS — A commercial umbrella liability insurer’s complaint seeking a declaration that it no longer has a duty to defend or indemnify its insured for underlying asbestos bodily injury suits was properly dismissed based on the doctrine of claim preclusion because the insurer’s defense and indemnity obligations were already decided by the Missouri state court in a similar suit filed by the insured, the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said.
March 04, 2025
COMMENTARY: Sustainability Recalibration: What Insurers And Policyholders Should Know About ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance Considerations) Under Trump 2.0, Part 1

By Scott M. Seaman
March 04, 2025
Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage For Contamination Suit, Magistrate Judge Says

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A Texas federal magistrate judge recommended granting an insurer’s motion for summary judgment as it applies to the insurer’s duty to defend because a policy’s pollution exclusion bars coverage for an underlying environmental contamination lawsuit filed against the insured.
March 03, 2025
Pollution Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage For Carbon Monoxide Death

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Answering a certified question from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the Alaska Supreme Court determined that a pollution exclusion does not bar coverage for the carbon monoxide death of a 17-year-old because it was reasonable for the insureds to expect that coverage would be afforded based on a reading of the pollution exclusion.
March 03, 2025
Homeowner Amends Complaint Against Insurer In Black Mold Coverage Suit

ABERDEEN, Miss. — Consistent with a Mississippi federal judge’s order, an insured homeowner filed an amended complaint against her homeowners insurer, clarifying the date on which the insured was forced to move out of her home as a result of black mold growth.
February 25, 2025
Florida Panel Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

MIAMI — A Florida appeals panel on Feb. 19 affirmed a lower court’s judgment in favor of an insurer in an insured’s declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking coverage for its business interruption losses as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, concluding that nothing in the record supports the insured’s contention that the governmental shutdown orders “were issued ‘due to’ specific conditions at the premises of the Insured.”
February 25, 2025
Hydrofracking Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage For Suits Arising Out Of Explosion

MIDLAND, Texas — A Texas federal judge entered judgment in favor of an insured in a dispute over reimbursement for underlying lawsuits arising out of an explosion at a saltwater facility after determining that the insurer failed to show that a jury verdict in favor of the insured was against the weight of the evidence and after determining that the policy’s hydrofracking exclusion does not bar coverage for the underlying suits.
February 24, 2025
Insured Says Allocation To Excess Insurer In Contamination Suit Was Proper

SEATTLE — A trial court correctly found that an insured was permitted to allocate more than $500,000 in defense costs incurred for environmental contamination liabilities to an excess insurer because the timing of the allocation of the defense costs was appropriate based on the timing of a decision a prior appeal filed by the insured, the insured says in a response brief filed in the Division I Washington Court of Appeals.
February 24, 2025
Fact Issues Exist On Policy’s Water, Preexisting Damage Exclusions, Judge Says

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge partially denied a commercial property insurer’s motion for summary judgment after determining that questions of fact exist as to whether the policy’s repeated leakage of water exclusion and preexisting damage exclusion bar coverage for additional damages sought by an insured for water damages within its building.
February 20, 2025
Rhode Island High Court Says Judgment Properly Entered For Homeowners Insurer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A lower court properly entered summary judgment in favor of a homeowners insurer because the insureds’ assignee failed to offer sufficient evidence showing that the insurer’s handling of its insureds’ storm damage claim constituted a breach of contract or bad faith, the Rhode Island Supreme Court said in affirming the lower court’s ruling.
February 18, 2025
Insurer Owed Contractor, Subcontractor A Defense In Condo Water Damage Row

NEW YORK — Concluding that a condominium had been “put to its intended use” prior to a water damage incident that arose during remodeling, a New York federal judge found that a commercial general liability insurer was obligated to defend both a contractor and subcontractor from claims brought by an adjoining unit owner.
February 18, 2025
Insured Permitted To Amend Complaint In Black Mold Coverage Suit

ABERDEEEN, Miss. — A Mississippi federal judge granted an insured’s motion for leave to file an amended complaint against a homeowners insurer to clarify the date on which the insured was forced to move out of her home as a result of black mold growth because the date is necessary to clarify before a decision can be made as to whether the insured’s claims against the insurer are barred by the applicable statute of limitations.
February 18, 2025
Oral Arguments Set In Dispute Over Applicability Of Radioactive Materials Exclusion

CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments on April 10 in an insured’s appeal of a district court’s ruling 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.
February 18, 2025
Defective Workmanship Claims Do Not Constitute Occurrence, Excess Insurer Argues

PHOENIX — An excess commercial insurer filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit in an Arizona federal court arguing that underlying defective workmanship allegations “standing alone do not constitute an ‘occurrence’” and repair of the purported defective workmanship or product fail to constitute “property damage” to trigger coverage, seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify its subcontractor insured and an underlying $6 million stipulated judgment cannot be enforced against it.
February 13, 2025
COMMENTARY: The Top Twelve Insurance Coverage Decisions Of 2024

By Robert D. Chesler, Seán McCabe, Madilynne Lee and James A. Goodridge
February 13, 2025
Breach Of Fiduciary Duty Claim Against Insurer Is Duplicative Of Bad Faith Claim

SEATTLE — An insured’s claim for breach of fiduciary duty against a homeowners insurer must be dismissed because the claim is duplicative of the insured’s claim for breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, a Washington federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss the claim.