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Mealey's California Insurance

  • 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 04, 2025

    Judge: Subcontractors’, Contractor’s Insurers Owe Defense In Gym Water Leak Suit

    LOS ANGELES — The “broad duty to defend” was triggered for both a contractor and two subcontractors in an underlying suit over damage from a water leak, a California federal judge found, leading her to partly grant the subcontractors’ motions to dismiss the commercial general liability (CGL) insurer’s suit seeking declarations that it was not obligated to provide coverage.

  • February 03, 2025

    Judge Addresses Exclusion, Summary Judgment Bids In Long-Running RESPA Suit

    FRESNO, Calif. — Under Jan. 31 orders that a judge sitting by designation in California federal court issued, a combined Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. hearing and bench trial on economic harm will be the next development in a long-running Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) class action involving captive reinsurance agreements.

  • February 03, 2025

    Federal Judge Denies CGL Insurer’s Motion To Dismiss 2 Of Contractor’s Claims

    OAKLAND, Calif.— A federal judge in California denied a commercial general liability insurer’s motion to dismiss a licensed general contractor insured’s claims for declaratory relief for the appointment of Cumis counsel and punitive damages in his lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying lawsuit alleging that the work on a renovation project was negligent.

  • January 31, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Public Disclosure Bar Dismissal In FCA Medicare Fraud Row

    SAN JOSE, Calif. —  The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a qui tam relator’s suit accusing pharmaceutical companies of violating the False Claims Act (FCA) by overcharging the federal government and states under Medicare and Medicaid, finding that the relator waived his argument that the public disclosure bar is inapplicable.

  • 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

    Panel Affirms Ruling In Favor Of Insurer, Agent In Camp Fire Coverage Dispute

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California appeals court on Jan. 24 affirmed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of a homeowners insurer and an insurance agent in a negligence lawsuit arising from the November 2018 Camp Fire, concluding that the agent’s alleged misrepresentations pertain to the scope of coverage under an insurance policy that was no longer in effect at the time of the wildfire loss.

  • January 24, 2025

    Reality TV Stars Sue Los Angeles, Public Utility To Recover Palisades Fire Losses

    LOS ANGELES — Realty television stars Spencer and Heidi Pratt and others sued Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) for inverse condemnation in a California court, alleging that the Palisades Fire that began on Jan. 7 “was an inescapable and unavoidable consequence of the water supply system servicing areas in and around Pacific Palisades” and that the defendants’ operation of the system and related infrastructure was a substantial cause of their damages.

  • January 24, 2025

    Settlement In Principle Reported In Row Over Jet Leased To Russian Operator

    SAN FRANCISCO — Citing “reports that Plaintiffs have reached settlements in principle with all Defendants,” a California state court judge vacated an April 7 trial date and other deadlines in an international aviation insurance coverage dispute involving Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

  • January 23, 2025

    16 Suits Filed Against Southern California Edison To Recover Eaton Wildfire Damages

    LOS ANGELES — A “long time” real estate agent in Altadena, Calif., sued Southern California Edison Co. and Edison International in the Los Angeles County Superior Court seeking compensation for damages she suffered from the Eaton Wildfire and alleging that the fire began “when electrical equipment within Southern California Edison Company’s utility infrastructure contacted, or caused sparks to contact, surrounding vegetation,” making her lawsuit the 16th one filed against the defendants to date.

  • January 22, 2025

    Insurer’s Silica Dust Coverage Suit Transferred From Minnesota To California

    MINNEAPOLIS — An insurer’s suit seeking a coverage declaration for underlying silica dust exposure suits filed against an insured must be transferred to California federal court where a similar suit filed by the insured is pending because the insured filed the California suit before the insurer filed its suit in Minnesota federal court, a Minnesota federal judge said Jan. 21 in granting the insured’s motion to transfer.

  • January 17, 2025

    Issues Of Fact Exist As To Cause Of Insureds’ Shutdown During Wildfires

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge partially denied an insurer’s motion for summary judgment in a breach of contract and bad faith case filed by insureds seeking additional coverage for business losses incurred as a result of wildfires after determining that issues of fact exist as to whether two of the insureds’ businesses were forced to close for a period of time because of soot and ash damages from the fires.

  • January 15, 2025

    Questions Of Fact Exist On Disability Insurer’s Initial Denial Of LTD Claim

    SAN FRANCISCO — A bad faith claim alleged against a disability insurer can proceed because questions of fact exist on the issue of whether the insurer’s initial denial of a long-term disability (LTD) benefits claim was reasonable based on the evidence available to the insurer, a California federal judge said.

  • January 14, 2025

    Judge Refuses To Reconsider Ruling On Request To Transfer Silica Coverage Suit

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied an insurer’s motion to reconsider a ruling on the denial of the insurer’s request to transfer an insured’s suit seeking coverage for underlying bodily injury suits arising out of silica dust exposure to Minnesota federal court because the insurer failed to show that there are new issues of material fact that were not previously considered by the court.

  • January 13, 2025

    Judge Amends Summary Judgment Order Over Insurer’s Liability Under Lost Policy

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge amended his previous order denying an insurer’s motion for summary judgment on a suit brought against it for breach of contract and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by the successor-in-interest to a school that is being sued for a 1976 sexual assault of a student by a teacher, writing that the order conflated which policy was lost and which one the insurer conceded issuing.

  • January 13, 2025

    Bid For Review Of 9th Circuit Crop Insurance Ruling Under Loper Bright Fails

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its Jan. 13 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a certiorari petition in which a farm argued that Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo should have prevented the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals from deferring to a regulatory interpretation of the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC) in a crop insurance case.

  • January 10, 2025

    Disability Insurer Wrongfully Terminated Benefits, Woman With Long COVID Says

    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A woman who was diagnosed with long COVID filed suit on Jan. 9 in California federal court against her disability insurer, alleging that the insurer wrongfully terminated her long-term disability (LTD) benefits after determining that she was able to perform the duties of her own occupation as the director of operations at a museum.

  • January 10, 2025

    Claimant Met Burden Of Showing She Is Disabled From Own Occupation, Judge Says

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted a disability claimant’s motion for judgment and denied a disability insurer’s motion for judgment after determining that the disability claimant met her burden of proving that she is disabled from performing the duties of her own occupation.

  • January 08, 2025

    Biopharmaceutical Company, Insurer Stipulate To Dismiss D&O Coverage Dispute

    LOS ANGELES — After announcing that a settlement has been reached in principle, a biopharmaceutical company insured and its insurer filed a joint stipulation to dismiss a directors and officers liability coverage dispute arising from a lawsuit brought by the insured’s former employee.

  • January 06, 2025

    Some Defendants Reach Undisclosed Settlement In Jet Coverage Lawsuit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A few defendants have been dismissed with prejudice from an international aviation insurance coverage dispute involving Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pursuant to a confidential settlement approved by a California state court judge.

  • January 06, 2025

    Citing Wildfire Risks, California Issues Net Cost Of Reinsurance Regulation

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Department of Insurance has issued a Net Cost of Reinsurance (NCOR) in Ratemaking Regulationthat Commissioner Ricardo Lara says was prompted by insurers pulling back from the state’s property insurance market in light of the growing risk of wildfires. 

  • December 12, 2024

    Breach Of Contract, Bad Faith Claims Will Remain In Federal Court, Judge Says

    LOS ANGELES — Breach of contract and bad faith claims against a life insurer will proceed in California federal court because remand to state court is not warranted as complete diversity of citizenship exists, a California federal judge said after determining that the beneficiaries’ negligence claim cannot proceed against the nondiverse life insurer agent who was working in the scope of her employment for the life insurer.

  • December 12, 2024

    Judge: Assignee Lacks Standing To Recover Emotional Distress Damages From Insurer

    CHICAGO — A California federal judge held that an assignee cannot establish standing under California Insurance Code Section 11580(b)(2) to recover her emotional distress damages from an insurer as judgment creditor of her former employer, granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss her lawsuit arising from an underlying discrimination judgment in her favor but allowing the assignee leave to amend one of her claims.

  • December 11, 2024

    No Coverage Owed For Regal Cinemas’ Coronavirus Losses, 9th Circuit Affirms

    PASADENA, Calif.— The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of insurers in Regal Cinemas’ breach of contract lawsuit seeking recovery for its revenue losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic, finding that, pursuant to New York law, Regal Cinemas was not insured for its alleged business losses.

  • December 10, 2024

    Panel: Reservation Court Has Jurisdiction In Tribe’s Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over an insurance company in a dispute over the tribe’s claims for business interruption losses at its casino caused by the coronavirus pandemic, affirming a lower federal court on the alterative ground that the insurance policy at issue satisfies Montana’s consensual-relationship exception.