Mealey's Catastrophic Loss : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Catastrophic Loss

October 03, 2024
Texas Panel Affirms Jury Verdict In Insured’s Favor In Hurricane Harvey Dispute

EDINBURG, Texas — A Texas appeals court panel on Oct. 3 affirmed a jury verdict in favor of an insured in its breach of contract lawsuit alleging its insurer improperly denied its claim seeking coverage for roof damage to two of its buildings that was caused by Hurricane Harvey, finding that evidence would have enabled the jury to determine that the damage to the roofs was sustained by wind or wind-created openings.
October 02, 2024
English Appellate Court Rules Against Reinsurer In COVID-19 ‘Catastrophe’ Case

LONDON — Rejecting both main arguments a reinsurer advanced in a dispute over business interruption losses, a panel of the Court of Appeal of England and Walesagreed with a lower court’s ruling that under the reinsurance agreement, the COVID-19 pandemic is a “catastrophe” and an “Hours Clause” doesn’t exclude individual losses that continue to develop more than 168 hours after they first occur.
September 30, 2024
Alaska High Court Sides With ‘Overwhelming Majority’ In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

ANCHORAGE, Ala. — Finding “no reason to differ from the overwhelming majority” in answering “no” to two certified questions from an Alaska federal court, the Alaska Supreme Court held Sept. 27 that neither the presence of the coronavirus at an insured’s property nor operating restrictions that were imposed on an insured property by pandemic-prompted governmental orders constitute “direct physical loss of or damage to” the insured property to trigger coverage.
September 27, 2024
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Reverses Coverage Ruling In Dentist’s Coronavirus Suit

PITTSBURGH — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Sept. 26 held that a dental practice insured is not entitled to commercial property insurance coverage for its financial losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and the state’s nonessential business shutdown orders because its covered properties did not incur any physical loss or damage, reversing a Pennsylvania Superior Court majority’s ruling and ordering the case remanded for the trial court to enter summary judgment in favor of the insurer.
September 27, 2024
No Coverage Owed For Tavern Owner, Pennsylvania High Court Rules In COVID-19 Suit

PITTSBURGH — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a one-page order issued Sept. 26 affirmed a Pennsylvania Superior Court reversal of a lower court’s ruling in favor of a tavern owner insured in a coronavirus coverage dispute, citing the high court’s reasoning in Ungarean v. CNA, et al. that addressed the same issue on the same day.
September 27, 2024
Panel Denies Insurer’s Petition For Interlocutory Appeal In Coronavirus Dispute

DALLAS — A Texas appeals panel denied a commercial property insurer’s petition for an interlocutory appeal of a partial summary judgment order in a coronavirus coverage dispute, finding that an immediate appeal “would not materially advance the ultimate resolution of the case.”
September 25, 2024
Insurers File Claims In Ship Owner’s Suit Seeking Exoneration For Bridge Collapse

BALTIMORE — New York Marine and General Insurance Co. and Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London, Axis Syndicate 1686, on Sept. 24 became the fifth and sixth insurers to file a claim and answer to a petition for exoneration from or limitation of liability filed by the owner and technical manager of the ship that allided with and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26.
September 25, 2024
Judge Tosses All Claims In Hurricane Coverage Dispute With Guaranty Association

NEW ORLEANS — “Considering” the parties’ joint dismissal motion, a Louisiana federal judge dismissed with prejudice 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.
September 25, 2024
Judge Refuses To Dismiss Breach Of Contract Claim In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York denied “all risk” insurers’ motion to dismiss a breach of contract claim in a lawsuit filed by a holding company for the U.S. interests in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group alleging the “Special Perils Provision” in an endorsement of the policies provided coverage for its $14 million in business interruption/interference losses caused by infectious or contagious diseases that were “manifested by any person within a 5-mile radius of” its four hotels in Boston, New York, Miami and Washington, D.C., finding the insured plausibly alleged that its losses were covered by the endorsement.
September 23, 2024
California High Court Tosses Certified Question Following COVID-19 Coverage Ruling

SAN FRANCISCO — In light of the recent ruling in John's Grill, Inc. v. The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., the California Supreme Court dismissed its consideration of a certified question from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals asking whether an insurance policy’s virus exclusion is unenforceable in a coverage lawsuit brought by owners, operators and managers of two Napa Valley, Calif., restaurants in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
September 20, 2024
Panel Affirms Judgment In Coverage Suit Arising From Agency’s Breach Of Contract

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s finding that an excess insurer breached its duties to defend and indemnify and a primary insurer violated its Stowers duty when it did not accept a marina owner’s settlement demands in an underlying breach of contract lawsuit brought against their mutual insured.
September 20, 2024
Issues Of Fact Exist On Insureds’ Breach Of Contract, Bad Faith Claims

OKLAHOMA CITY — A homeowners insurer is not entitled to summary judgment on breach of contract and bad faith claims because issues of fact exist regarding the valuation of the insureds’ claim and whether the insurer acted in bad faith in investigating and evaluating the insureds’ claim for damages caused by a storm to their home.
September 19, 2024
U.S. Refutes Exoneration Petition Of Owner Of Ship That Destroyed Baltimore Bridge

BALTIMORE — The United States of America on Sept. 18 filed a claim and answer to a petition for exoneration from or limitation of liability filed by the owner and technical manager of the ship that allided with and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, arguing that the petitioners “cut corners in ways that risked lives and infrastructure” and “must be held fully accountable for the catastrophic harm they caused, and punitive damages should be imposed to deter such misconduct.”
September 19, 2024
Judge Denies Summary Judgment On Issue Of Contamination Exclusion’s Applicability

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge refused to grant summary judgment in favor of an insured on the applicability of a policy’s contamination exclusion to losses sustained by the insured in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic because the evidence could support a jury finding that the insured believed that the contamination exclusion would apply as a bar to coverage for the losses caused by the coronavirus.
September 19, 2024
Judge: No Coverage Owed For Suit Alleging Faulty Work On Apartment Complex Roofs

NEW YORK — Adopting a magistrate’s report and recommendation, a federal New York judge concluded that insurers owe no coverage for an underlying lawsuit that accuses a contractor and a subcontractor of faulty work on roofs in a New York City apartment complex that failed during Hurricane Sandy.
September 18, 2024
No Coverage Owed For Footwear Chain’s Coronavirus Losses, Illinois Panel Affirms

CHICAGO — An Illinois appeals court panel on Sept. 17 affirmed a lower court’s grant of a commercial property insurer’s motion to dismiss the owner of retail footwear chain DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse’s breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that the policy’s “law and ordinance” and “contamination” exclusions bar coverage.
September 17, 2024
9th Circuit Denies Insurers’ Petition For Rehearing In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

SEATTLE —The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 16 denied insurers’ petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc asking it to reconsider its Feb. 29 opinion that affirmed a federal court’s finding that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over a COVID-19 coverage suit involving tribal properties on tribal land, but with a dissenting judge saying that “this case cried out for rehearing en banc.”
September 13, 2024
Judge Dismisses Hurricane Coverage Row With Guaranty Association After Settlement

MIAMI — After being advised that the parties had reached a settlement, a Florida state court judge dismissed a breach of contract suit against the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA), which had been substituted for a now-insolvent homeowners insurer sued by a homeowner over the insurer’s purported failure to cover damage from Hurricane Irma.
September 11, 2024
Judge Overrules Insurer’s Objection To Appraisal Order In Dispute Over Irma Damage

FORT MYERS, Florida — A federal judge in Florida overruled an insurer’s objection to a magistrate judge’s finding that the court would not dictate the form of an appraisal award in a Hurricane Irma dispute “because doing so would effectively rewrite the insurance policy,” finding that the magistrate judge’s ruling “is not clearly erroneous or contrary to law.”
September 10, 2024
Panel Refuses To Reconsider Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Suit Prompted By Pandemic

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals refused to reconsider its ruling that affirmed a federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insured in its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
September 09, 2024
8th Circuit Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Bad Faith Suit Arising From Derecho

ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 6 affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an insurer in Iowa insureds’ breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from their property damage caused by a derecho, rejecting the insurers’ contention that the lower court lacked subject matter jurisdiction and finding that the insurer did not breach the contract when it refused to pay the insureds the remaining replacement cost value.
September 04, 2024
5th Circuit Stands By Reversal In Professional Liability Suit Over Oil Spill Claims

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 3 denied plaintiffs’ request to reconsider last month’s reversal of a lower federal court’s enforcement of a settlement in a lawsuit alleging that law firm insureds committed legal malpractice by failing to properly handle plaintiffs’ claims for compensation of damages caused by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, finding that there was no enforceable settlement because the defendants did not accept the plaintiffs’ counteroffer.
August 15, 2024
COMMENTARY: Campus Protests May Trigger Insurance Coverage For Property Damage And Economic Losses

By Amber Finch, Anthony Crawford and Adrienne Kitchen
September 03, 2024
5th Circuit Panel Refuses To Reconsider Dismissal Of $192M Coronavirus Coverage Suit

NEW ORLEANS — A panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an Aug. 30 per curiam order denied Texas’ largest nonprofit health system petition seeking rehearing en banc of a 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 pandemic.
September 03, 2024
5th Circuit: Contractor’s Notice Of Appeal In Suit Against Insurer Is Untimely

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that it lacks jurisdiction over a contractor’s motion to reconsider a Louisiana federal court’s dismissal of its claims against an insurer because its notice of appeal was not timely, dismissing the appeal in the contractor’s lawsuit seeking to recover damages arising out of the insurer’s alleged failure to reimburse it for work it performed for the insured following Hurricane Ida.