Mealey's Emerging Insurance Disputes : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Emerging Insurance Disputes

October 11, 2024
Insurer: Alleged Sexual Assaults Do Not Constitute Religious Expression Injury

SEATTLE — A church’s insurer filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit in a Washington federal court, disputing coverage for an underlying claim alleging a minor was sexually assaulted on multiple occasions by the church’s deacon.
October 10, 2024
California Bishop Amends Complaint, Seeks Insurance Coverage For Sex Abuse Suits

SAN FRANCISCO — The Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland, Calif., filed a fifth amended declaratory judgment and breach of statutory duty complaint in a California federal court against numerous insurers and the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA), which the plaintiff believes assumed responsibilities for its now-insolvent insurer, seeking a declaratory judgment stating that the plaintiff is entitled to a defense and indemnity regarding covered claims for the more than 300 suits filed against it related to alleged clergy sexual abuse.
October 10, 2024
Federal Judge: Fact Issues Exist In Coverage Suit Over Claims Against Nursing Home

CHICAGO —A federal judge in Illinois granted in part and denied in part the parties’ motions for summary judgment in a senior care primary liability insurer’s lawsuit challenging coverage for an underlying $934,232 judgment in a wrongful death and negligence action alleging that an insured violated the Nursing Home Care Act by failing to meet the standard of care at its skilled nursing facility, finding that issues of fact preclude summary judgment on certain issues.
October 10, 2024
Wisconsin Panel: Claim Clearly Satisfies CGL Policy’s Definition Of Property Damage

MILWAUKEE — A Wisconsin appeals panel held that an insured’s claim “clearly” satisfies a commercial general liability insurance policy’s definition of property damage and its insurer has a duty to defend and possible indemnify it against underlying complaints over paint peeling and cracking on aluminum balconies that were fabricated by the insured, reversing a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the insurer and remanding for further proceedings.
October 10, 2024
9th Circuit Unseals Driver’s Brief Challenging GEICO’s ‘Unfair’ COVID-19 Rebates

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals unsealed a brief filed by a driver appealing a federal judge’s grant of summary judgment on her class action claim for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) to GEICO for allegedly unfairly retaining an estimated $238 million in additional premium relief the driver says it owed insureds after the COVID-19 pandemic.
October 09, 2024
Bound By Another Planet, Judge Reconsiders Ruling Against Insurer In COVID-19 Suit

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge on Oct. 8 granted an insurer’s motion to reconsider the court’s ruling that denied its motion for partial judgment on the pleadings in Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s breach of contract lawsuit arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, dismissing with prejudice Live Nation’s claims for coverage that require a showing of physical loss or damage after concluding that the court is bound by the holding in Another Planet Entertainment, LLC v. Vigilant Insurance Co. that a “bare allegation” that “the actual or potential presence of the COVID-19 virus rendered [plaintiff's] property unusable for its intended purpose” is insufficient to demonstrate physical loss or damage to the insured property.
October 09, 2024
3rd Circuit Refuses To Rehear Consolidated Appeals In COVID-19 Coverage Suits

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 8 denied insureds’ petition seeking rehearing en banc of a panel’s rejection of 14 consolidated appeals of lower federal courts’ dismissals of the insureds’ lawsuits seeking coverage for their business interruption losses caused by the coronavirus and the subsequent shutdown orders, standing by the panel’s holding that the insureds’ loss of use of their properties’ intended business purposes is not a physical loss of property to trigger business income or extra expense under their respective policies.
October 09, 2024
Chemical Company: Insurer Withheld Full Value Of Business Interruption Loss

BEAUMONT, Texas — A sustainable chemical company insured sued its insurer in a Texas federal court for breach of contract and declaratory judgment, seeking to obtain coverage for the full value of its business interruption loss caused by an explosion at a Texas plant.
October 09, 2024
Mediator: Restaurant, Insurer Settle Suit Over Looting Damage After Hurricane Maria

ST. CROIX, Virgin Islands — A mediator filed a report in a federal court in the Virgin Islands indicating that a restaurant insured and an insurer completely resolved their dispute over the insurer’s adjustment of the insured’s property damage claim and business interruption losses arising from looting after Hurricane Maria.
October 08, 2024
9th Circuit Grants Restaurants’ Motion To Dismiss Appeal In COVID-19 Coverage Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 7 granted a motion by owners, operators and managers of two Napa Valley, Calif., restaurants to dismiss their appeal in a coronavirus coverage dispute after the California Supreme Court dismissed its consideration of the Ninth Circuit’s certified question asking whether an insurance policy’s virus exclusion is unenforceable.
October 08, 2024
High Court Denies Certiorari In Auto Damage Suit Filed By Third-Party Claimant

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7 denied a third-party claimant’s petition for writ of certiorari, refusing to review a California appellate court’s ruling that the claimant lacks standing to bring claims for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) and bad faith against a tortfeasor’s auto insurer.
October 08, 2024
Coach Appeals Court’s Ruling That Sexual Abuse Claims Against Him Are Not Covered

TACOMA, Wash. — An insured filed an appeal notice asking the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to review a Washington federal court’s finding that a homeowners insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify him for an underlying sexual abuse lawsuit, challenging the court’s finding that the underlying claims of intentional sexual abuse are not accidental and, as a result, do not constitute an “occurrence” to trigger policy coverage.
October 08, 2024
Hawaii High Court Says GHGs Are Pollutants, Reckless Conduct Is Accident

HONOLULU — In response to two certified questions posed by a federal court in Hawaii in a suit filed by an insured petroleum company seeking coverage for underlying lawsuits alleging that the company is responsible for contributing to the effects of global warming based on its failure to warn of the hazards of using fossil fuel products, the Hawaii Supreme Court on Oct. 7 determined that an “accident” includes an insured’s reckless conduct and that greenhouse gases (GHGs) are pollutants as defined in the subject policies’ pollution exclusions.
October 07, 2024
N.Y. Court Allows Claims To Stand In University’s Suit Over Sexual Abuse Claims

NEW YORK —A New York appeals court unanimously affirmed a lower court’s denial of primary and excess commercial general liability insurers’ motion to dismiss the Rockefeller University’s claims for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and violation of New York General Business Law Section 349(a), allowing the claims to proceed in the dispute over coverage for several hundred underlying allegations that a former university employee sexually abused children for a span of 40 years.
October 07, 2024
8th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Class Action Alleging Fraud Against Insurer

ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of an insurer’s motion to dismiss a putative class action alleging that insureds purchased long-term care insurance policies that contained optional inflation protection riders based on the insurer’s false representations that their premiums were not expected to increase, finding that their complaint does not allege a material false statement or omission that they relied on and, therefore, fails to allege a claim for fraud.
October 04, 2024
Panel Affirms No Coverage Owed For Class Actions Alleging Employees Were Underpaid

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 3 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling that an insurance policy’s “wage and hour violation” exclusion barred coverage for two underlying class lawsuits alleging that the insured conducted an unlawful scheme of underpaying some of its employees.
October 04, 2024
Assault & Battery Endorsement Bars Coverage For Gunshot Injuries, Panel Affirms

DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 3 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of commercial insurer in a coverage dispute arising from underlying gunshot injuries, finding that the policy’s assault and battery endorsement barred coverage.
October 02, 2024
N.Y. Federal Magistrate Refuses To Transfer Venue Of Ghost Guns Coverage Suit

NEW YORK — A New York federal magistrate judge denied an insured’s motion to transfer the venue of an insurer’s declaratory judgment lawsuit disputing coverage for underlying claims that the insured violated federal, state and local laws when it deliberately sold and shipped ghost gun parts and kits to New York, finding that there are no special circumstances to warrant departure from the first-filed rule.
October 02, 2024
Judge: Insurer Has Duty To Defend, Indemnify Against Claims Arising From Collapse

CHICAGO — Granting an insured’s motion for partial summary judgment, a federal judge in Illinois held that an insurer has a duty to defend the insured against an underlying action alleging that the insured’s excavation work on ultraviolet disinfection facilities caused the collapse of an embankment supporting tracks for a line on the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and has a duty to indemnify the insured against a second lawsuit brought by the project’s general contractor.
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.
October 02, 2024
Federal Judge Stays BlueCross’ Bad Faith Suit Against Insurer Pending Mediation

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania administratively stayed Capital BlueCross’ breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit against its errors and omissions insurer to allow the parties to proceed through private mediation of the coverage dispute over an underlying antitrust multidistrict litigation.
October 02, 2024
Mississippi High Court Reverses Summary Judgment In Explosion Coverage Dispute

JACKSON, Miss. — The Mississippi Supreme Court held that fact issues preclude summary judgment in insurers’ subrogation lawsuit arising from an explosion at a gas processing plant, reversing the lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant and remanding for further proceedings.
October 01, 2024
Delaware Judge Denies Interlocutory Appeal In Earplug Liability Coverage Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware judge denied plaintiffs’ application for certification of interlocutory appeal of his summary judgment ruling in favor of liability insurers in a coverage lawsuit arising from an underlying earplug product liability multidistrict litigation that resulted in a $6 billion settlement and millions of dollars of defense costs.
October 01, 2024
Only Copyright Claim Survives In Atari’s Arcade Cabinet Row With State Farm

DALLAS — A federal judge in Texas said a copyright infringement claim brought by Atari Interactive Inc. against the State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. and advertising companies that worked with it for allegedly using an Atari arcade cabinet in a commercial without Atari’s permission can survive a motion to dismiss; however, the judge held that all other claims brought by the video game company fail.
October 01, 2024
Judge Dismisses Suit Disputing Coverage For BIPA Claims Over AI Food Phone Orders

CHICAGO — Following receipt of a businessowners insurer’s notice of voluntary dismissal, a federal judge in Illinois dismissed the insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that it owes no coverage for two underlying putative class action lawsuits alleging that its insured and two franchise restaurants violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) when they used the insured’s voice artificial intelligence technology to handle phone orders from customers.