Mealey's California Insurance : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's California Insurance

November 16, 2022
GEICO Seeks To Appeal UCL Class Certification In COVID Premium Credit Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — GEICO petitioned the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for permission to appeal a “deeply problematic” ruling certifying a class of automotive policy holders who say GEICO violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by profiting from a premium giveback program initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic, writing that certification was based on a flawed expert report that should have been excluded.
November 16, 2022
Insurer Disputes Coverage For Cyberstalking Suit Against EBay, Directors And Officers

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A commercial umbrella liability insurer filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit in a California federal court, disputing coverage for an underlying lawsuit alleging that eBay and its directors and officers “engaged in a coordinated effort to intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence” the underlying plaintiffs “in order to stifle their reporting on eBay.”
November 15, 2022
Insurer Counterclaims In Administrator’s Suit Over Fee Calculation, Payment

LOS ANGELES — Answering a complaint by an administrative service provider that allegedly mistakenly underpaid itself by approximately $40 million, an insurer on Nov. 14 counterclaimed in California federal court for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty and argued in part that the provider is obligated to indemnify the insurer.
November 14, 2022
Insureds Not Permitted To File Amended Complaint In Bad Faith, Wildfire Damage Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a motion for leave to file a third-amended complaint to add a claim for injunctive relief by insureds who claim their insurer breached its contract and acted in bad faith by refusing to cover damages caused to their refrigerators by power outages during a California wildfire because the insureds have an adequate legal remedy for damages based on their contract claims.
November 11, 2022
Claimant Met Burden Of Showing Own-Occupation Benefits Are Owed

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A disability claimant is entitled to long-term disability (LTD) benefits under a plan’s own-occupation standard because the evidence supports a finding that the claimant was disabled from performing the duties of her own occupation; however, the disability insurer must determine on remand if the claimant qualifies for LTD benefits under the plan’s any-occupation standard, a California federal judge said.
November 10, 2022
Disability Claimant Entitled To LTD Benefits For Heart Condition, Judge Says

LOS ANGELES — A disability claimant is entitled to long-term disability (LTD) benefits because the medical evidence supports a finding that the claimant was totally disabled and the disability insurer failed to consider how work-related stress could negatively contribute to the claimant’s heart condition, a California federal judge said.
November 10, 2022
Heart Attack Patient’s UCL Fraud Claims Against Insurer Insufficient, Judge Says

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge dismissed with prejudice claims that a travel insurance policy provider committed promissory fraud and violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by not approving medical coverage for a heart attack patient on vacation to Chile for five days, finding that the plaintiff failed to plead intent to defraud but may pursue a breach of contract claim.
November 09, 2022
Assignee Tells 9th Circuit It Stepped In Provider’s Shoes, Has Viable ERISA Claim

PASADENA, Calif. — A district court judge ignored precedent the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals cited in reversing a previous dismissal on standing grounds and then changed its mind for unknown reasons and found the claims insufficient, a group assigned the rights of a now-defunct health and substance abuse care provider argues.
November 07, 2022
Reports Accidentally Produced By Insurer In Contamination Suit Are Not Discoverable

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — An insured seeking coverage for groundwater contamination at a county airport is not entitled to three reports regarding the contamination and prepared at the insurer’s request because the reports, which were inadvertently produced by the insurer during discovery, are clearly protected by the attorney-client privilege and the insurer did not waive its right to assert that privilege, a California federal magistrate judge said in denying insured’s motion seeking a determination that the reports are not subject to privilege or immunity.
November 07, 2022
No Certiorari For Discovery, Deposition, Questions In Uninsured Motorist Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A pro se petitioner who raised four questions regarding depositions, discovery and the statute of limitations over uninsured motorist (UM) insurance coverage for a 2009 auto accident saw his petition for certiorari denied without comment by the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 7.
November 07, 2022
Bad Faith Claim Against Disability Insurer To Proceed Under California Law

SAN DIEGO — A bad faith claim against a disability insurer will proceed because applying Illinois law would be contrary to California’s fundamental policy of providing a remedy for insurance bad faith, a California federal judge said in denying the insurer’s motion to dismiss the bad faith claim.
November 07, 2022
Bad Faith Claim Against Rental Property Insurer Must Be Dismissed, Judge Says

SAN FRANCISCO — A bad faith claim alleged against a rental property insurer must be dismissed because the insured’s tenants who filed the suit failed to allege any bad faith conduct by the insurer after the tenants became judgment creditors of the insured, a California federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss the bad faith claim.
November 07, 2022
Bad Faith Claim Is Duplicative Of Breach Of Contract Claim Against Auto Insurer

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A bad faith claim against an auto insurer cannot proceed, a California federal judge said, because the claim is duplicative of the insured’s breach of contract claim in a dispute over the auto insurer’s handling of the insured’s claim for underinsured motorist benefits.
November 01, 2022
Judge Certifies Class In Suit Alleging GEICO Profited From Premium Giveback Program

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on Oct. 31 granted an insured’s motion for class certification in a lawsuit alleging that GEICO profited from a premium giveback program initiated by the insurer during the COVD-19 pandemic and ordered the parties to submit briefing on supplemental authority that was submitted by the insurer.
October 31, 2022
Calif. Suit Accuses Sister Of Fraudulently Using Brother’s Life Insurance Proceeds

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California woman violated the California Insurance Frauds Prevention Act (IFPA) when she allegedly had her mentally disabled relative who was incapable of entering into contracts sign a power of attorney allowing her to access life insurance proceeds left to him, alleges a complaint filed in a California court by the people of the state of California for the benefit of the relator, the employer who paid the premiums on the two policies.
October 31, 2022
Jury Awards Health Insurer $2.4M On Claim That Employer Fraudulently Insured Father

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A federal jury in California found that an employer and his California limited liability company committed fraud when the man’s father was presented as an employee and insured under the company’s small group health plan and awarded the insurer more than $2.4 million in damages.
October 28, 2022
On Reconsideration, Judge Affirms Refusal To Dismiss Lakers’ COVID Coverage Suit

LOS ANGELES — Granting an insurer’s motion for reconsideration, a federal judge in California again affirmed the court’s refusal to dismiss the Los Angeles Lakers’ first amended complaint to the extent that the claims are based on a commercial property insurance policy’s property damage clause, finding the court lacks the scientific expertise necessary to determine, based solely on the Lakers’ amended complaint, that it is not plausible for the insured’s property to have been physically altered by the coronavirus.
October 26, 2022
California Rulings ‘Directly Undermine’ Insured’s Appeal Of COVID-19 Coverage Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 25 affirmed a lower federal court’s dismissal of a California restaurant owner insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for its business interruption arising from the coronavirus pandemic, finding that the coronavirus did not cause “direct physical loss or physical damage” or “risks of physical loss.”
October 25, 2022
Jury Finds Insurance Agent Negligent, Awards $4.5M To Insureds In Wildfire Suit

NAPA, Calif. — Finding that an insurance agent was professionally negligent and was acting in the scope of her agency with State Farm General Insurance Co. when she harmed Napa County insureds, a California jury awarded the insureds $4,349,800 for their economic losses arising from the Atlas Peak wildfire.
October 24, 2022
Panel Affirms Finding That Auto Insurer Abandoned Arbitration Proceeding

LOS ANGELES — A trial court did not err in finding that an auto insurer abandoned an arbitration proceeding after its insured filed a breach of contract and bad faith suit because the insurer did not move to compel arbitration until more than a year after the insured filed suit.
October 19, 2022
Attorney Appeals Court’s Dismissal Of Suit Challenging Rescission Of Policy

LOS ANGELES — An attorney insured filed a notice indicating that he is appealing a California federal court’s finding that the undisputed evidence shows that he made a material misrepresentation in connection with his application for professional liability insurance that is sufficient for the insurer to rescind the policy.
October 14, 2022
No Coverage Owed For COVID-19 Losses; Breach Of Contract, Bad Faith Claims Fail

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Breach of contract and bad faith claims alleged against a commercial property insurer cannot proceed because no coverage is owed to the insured for business income losses sustained as a result of shutdown orders issued in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as there was no direct physical loss to the insured’s property, the Fourth District California Court of Appeal said in affirming a trial court’s decision in favor of the insurer.
October 14, 2022
Judge: No Prejudice Suffered From Contractor’s Refusal To Work With Counsel

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California granted summary judgment in favor of a construction company in a lawsuit filed by an insurer that claimed it was not required to provide a defense to the company based on its refusal to cooperate with the insurer’s counsel and insistence on using its own counsel, ruling that the insurer failed to provide evidence that it was prejudiced by the company’s termination of the counsel.
October 14, 2022
Judge Dismisses UCL Suit For ‘Inadequate’ Auto Policy Rebates During COVID-19

LOS ANGELES — A driver’s putative class complaint in California federal court accusing her insurer of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by providing an insufficient rebate of premiums paid on her auto policy after the March 2020 outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic was dismissed after the judge found that the insurer’s rebates can’t violate the UCL as they were “a gratuity.”
October 14, 2022
Breach Of Contract Claim Fails; No Policy Provision Identified, Judge Says

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted an auto insurer’s motion for partial judgment on the pleadings on a breach of contract claim because the insureds, who also claim that the insurer failed to settle their claims within a reasonable time period, failed to identify a specific policy provision that was breached by the insurer.