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Mealey's Catastrophic Loss

August 28, 2024
California Judge Enters Judgment In Hotel Insureds’ Coronavirus Coverage Dispute

LOS ANGELES — A California judge entered an amended judgment on a jury’s special verdict in favor of a commercial property insurer in hotel insureds’ breach of contract lawsuit arising from the COVID-19 pandemic after the parties signed a confidential settlement agreement and successfully requested dismissal of the insureds’ appeal.
August 27, 2024
11th Circuit Enters Judgment Dismissing Appeal In Hurricane Michael Coverage Dispute

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals entered judgment dismissing a commercial property insurer’s appeal in a Hurricane Michael coverage dispute for lack of jurisdiction, declining the insurer’s invitation to reconsider its conclusion that a Florida federal court failed to properly certify a partial final judgment order in favor of the insured for immediate review pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b).
August 20, 2024
Hurricane Coverage Row With Guaranty Association Dismissed With Reopening Provision

NEW ORLEANS — After being advised that the parties reached a compromise agreement, a Louisiana federal judge dismissed a breach of contract suit over damages from Hurricane Ida filed against the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA), which was substituted for an insolvent homeowners insurer, finding that the claims must be dismissed without prejudice only as to the right to reopen the case if the settlement is not completed within 60 days.
August 13, 2024
Federal Judge Dismisses Hurricane Ida Coverage Suit Per Parties’ Joint Stipulation

NEW ORLEANS — The same day a homeowners insurer and its insured filed a joint motion to dismiss, a federal judge in Louisiana dismissed with prejudice the insured’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for its property damage arising from Hurricane Ida.
August 12, 2024
Insureds Drop Appeal In Coronavirus Coverage Suit In California

LOS ANGELES — One day after the insureds filed a request to dismiss their appeal of a Los Angeles County Superior Court’s judgment on a jury’s special verdict in favor of a commercial property insurer in a breach of contract coverage lawsuit arising from the coronavirus pandemic, Presiding Justice Gonzalo C. Martinez on Aug. 9 signed the order dismissing the appeal.
August 12, 2024
After Reassignment, Judge Considers Vacating Ruling In Hurricane Coverage Dispute

LAFAYETTE, La. — After a hurricane coverage dispute was reassigned to a different Louisiana federal judge, the new judge opined about considering vacating the previous judge’s order denying a homeowner’s motions to amend and file a supplemental complaint to add the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA) as a defendant as the purported statutory obligor for a now-insolvent homeowners insurer.
August 09, 2024
Panel Reverses, Tosses Claims Against Guaranty Association In Coverage Dispute

GRETNA, La. — A Louisiana appeals court reversed a lower court’s judgment denying the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association’s (LIGA) exception of no cause of action and dismissed homeowners’ claims in a dispute over their now-insolvent insurer’s alleged failure to cover damage from Hurricane Ida, finding that the petition fails to state a claim for statutory damages against LIGA.
August 09, 2024
California High Court Reverses Ruling In Insured’s Favor In COVID-19 Coverage Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court on Aug. 8 reversed an appeals court’s ruling in favor of a San Francisco restaurant owner insured in a coverage dispute arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that the lower court erred by declining to enforce the specified cause of loss limitation under the policy’s “Limited Fungi, Bacteria or Virus Coverage” endorsement.
August 08, 2024
11th Circuit Affirms Denial Of Condo Association’s Motion For Relief In Irma Suit

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 7 affirmed a lower federal court’s denial of a condominium association insured’s motion for relief from the court’s order dismissing without prejudice its lawsuit against its property insurer in a Hurricane Irma coverage dispute, rejecting the insured’s argument that the lower court used the wrong standard.
August 08, 2024
11th Circuit Affirms $14M Arbitration Award In Coverage Dispute Over Storm Damage

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a property insurer waived its objections to an appraiser's partiality by not objecting before a $14 million appraisal award was issued, affirming a lower court’s ruling denying the insurer’s motion to vacate the award and granting the insured’s motion to confirm the award in a storm damage coverage dispute.
August 07, 2024
Panel Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Bad Faith Suit Prompted By Pandemic

NEW ORLEANS — Bound by its ruling in Baylor Scott & White Holdings v. Factory Mut. Ins. Co., the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 6 affirmed a federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an insured in its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
August 06, 2024
Texas Panel Affirms Take-Nothing Judgment In Hailstorm Coverage Dispute

DALLAS — A Texas appeals court affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a homeowners insurer in a breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from hailstorm damage, finding that the insurer did not breach the insurance policy because of its denial of the insureds’ demands to pay the appraisal award.
August 02, 2024
6th Circuit Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Coverage Suit Over Hailstorm Damage

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded that an insured’s failure to repair or replace her car dealership property following hailstorm damage is dispositive of her claim for the remainder of an appraisal award covered by an insurance policy’s Ordinance or Law provision, affirming a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the insurer.
August 01, 2024
Insurer Files Counterclaim Against Homeowners, Appraiser In Hurricane Coverage Row

NEW ORLEANS — After homeowners sued their insurer for breach of contract and bad faith related to the insurer’s alleged failure to cover their loss related to Hurricane Ida, the insurer filed a counterclaim against them and a third-party complaint against their appraiser, seeking damages for the homeowners’ and appraiser’s alleged scheme to defraud the insurer by inflating the damages estimate and improperly attributing costs to upgrade the property to hurricane damages.
August 01, 2024
Insurer Asks Panel To Vacate Dismissal Of Appeal In Hurricane Michael Appraisal Suit

ATLANTA —A commercial property insurer asked the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its conclusion that a Florida federal court failed to properly certify a partial final judgment order in favor of a church insured for immediate review pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b), challenging the court’s dismissal of its appeal in a Hurricane Matthew coverage dispute for lack of jurisdiction.
July 30, 2024
Health System Seeks Rehearing Of Dismissal Of $192M Coronavirus Coverage Dispute

NEW ORLEANS — Texas’ largest nonprofit health system filed a petition seeking rehearing en banc of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ majority opinion that affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of its commercial property insurer in its lawsuit seeking coverage for $192 million in business interruption losses arising from the coronavirus.
July 30, 2024
1st Circuit Reverses Ruling In Commercial Insurer’s Favor In ‘Surface Water’ Dispute

BOSTON — Following the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s answer to a certified question that rainwater that lands and accumulates on an insured hospital building’s second-floor outdoor rooftop courtyard or its parapet roof does not unambiguously constitute “surface waters” under Massachusetts law pursuant to the commercial insurance policy, the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 29 reversed a lower federal court’s summary judgment rulings in favor of insurers.
July 29, 2024
No Coverage Owed For Fire Damage To Insured’s Cannabis Crops, Insurer Argues

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — An insurer moved for summary judgment in its declaratory judgment lawsuit disputing coverage for the insured’s claim for losses arising from an exploding lamp that caused fire damage to 998 marijuana plants, arguing to a Connecticut federal court that the insured’s flowering room’s two-month unavailability had no effect on its production process to warrant business income coverage and the insured’s only purported losses stem from its inability to sell cannabis products that were derived from the fire-damaged crops and property.
July 24, 2024
Panel: Cosmetic-Loss Exclusion Bars Coverage For Damage Arising From Hailstorm

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a lower federal court properly concluded that an insured failed to create a genuine dispute regarding whether an insurance policy’s cosmetic-loss exclusion bars coverage for its claimed roof damage arising from a hailstorm, finding that there is undisputed proof that the alleged damage was cosmetic in nature.
July 24, 2024
Mass. High Court: ‘Surface Water’ Meaning Is Ambiguous As To Rainwater Accumulation

BOSTON — Answering a question from the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court concluded July 23 that rainwater that lands and accumulates on an insured hospital building’s second-floor outdoor rooftop courtyard or its parapet roof does not unambiguously constitute “surface waters” under Massachusetts law pursuant to the commercial insurance policy, resolving the ambiguity in favor of the insured in a water damage coverage dispute.
July 23, 2024
California High Court Denies Request To Publish Opinion In Wildfire Coverage Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court denied a homeowners insurer’s petition to publish an appeals court’s opinion that ruled that it did not breach the policy or the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and did not commit financial elder abuse because it paid the proper insureds “all (if not more than)” it had a duty to pay under the policy coverages for dwelling repairs, personal property damage and temporary additional living expenses for their property damage caused by the Woolsey Fire.
July 23, 2024
Insureds: Insurers’ ‘Greed’ Put ‘Selfish Profits’ Ahead Of Maui Wildfire Victims

MAUI, Hawaii — Insureds sued their insurers for bad faith in a Hawaii court, 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.”
July 23, 2024
9th Circuit: California High Court’s Answer Resolves Appeal In Insurer’s Favor

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 22 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of an insurer after the California Supreme Court answer “no” to the panel’s certified question and found that the “actual or potential presence of the COVID-19 virus on an insured's premises generally does not constitute ‘direct physical loss or damage to property’ for purposes of coverage under a commercial property insurance policy.”
July 22, 2024
5th Circuit Panel Refuses To Reconsider No Coverage Ruling In Hailstorm Suit

NEW ORLEANS — A per curiam panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 19 denied insureds’ petition to reconsider its earlier finding that a lower federal court correctly determined that under Texas Supreme Court precedent, an insurer is entitled to summary judgment on insureds’ bad faith and statutory damages claims in a hailstorm coverage dispute.
July 22, 2024
Contamination, Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage For Coronavirus Losses

TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Court of Appeals on July 19 affirmed a trial court’s ruling in favor of all-risk insurers that denied coverage for COVID-19 losses sustained by an insured because the policies’ contamination or pollution exclusion bars coverage for any contamination, seepage or pollution that endangers or threatens to endanger the health, safety or welfare of individuals.