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Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

  • 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 05, 2025

    Insurers Withdraw Motion For Judgment On Pleadings In Maui Wildfire Coverage Suit

    MAUI, Hawaii — Insurers withdrew their motion for judgment on the pleadings in a Hawaii court in their insureds’ bad faith action 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.”

  • February 04, 2025

    Home Depot Asks 6th Circuit To Rehear No Coverage Ruling In Data Breach Dispute

    CINCINNATI — Home Depot filed a petition in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking a panel rehearing of a majority ruling that affirmed an Ohio federal court’s finding that a commercial general liability insurance policy’s electronic data exclusion bars coverage for Home Depot’s losses stemming from a 2014 data breach.

  • February 04, 2025

    Competing Motions Filed In Asbestos Coverage Suit On Effect Of Noncumulation Clause

    PITTSBURGH — An insured maintains in a motion for partial summary judgment filed in Pennsylvania federal court that a noncumulation clause included in one of its excess insurer’s policies should not be enforced because the policy was changed to conform with an underlying umbrella policy; however, the excess insurer says in its motion for partial summary judgment that the noncumulation clause must be enforced to reduce the limit of liability under the policy and the amount owed to the insured for asbestos liabilities.

  • February 04, 2025

    Insurer Says Order Of Default Warranted Against Insureds In Debris Disposal Suit

    ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — An insurer filed a motion for default in Illinois federal court, maintaining that the court should enter an order of default against its insureds for failing to respond to the insurer’s second amended complaint, which seeks a declaration that its policy’s asbestos exclusion and pollution exclusion bar coverage for the alleged improper disposal of construction debris by the insured.

  • February 03, 2025

    Insureds: Insurers ‘Flouted’ Order Compelling Discovery In Defects Coverage Suit

    NEWARK, N.J. — Insureds asked a New Jersey court to dismiss their insurers’ lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying construction defects lawsuit, arguing that the insurers “have refused to meaningfully participate in the discovery process, repeatedly ignored deadlines and discovery rules, flouted this Court’s Order compelling discovery, and otherwise delayed the progression of this litigation.”

  • February 03, 2025

    Excess D&O Insurer Seeks Dismissal Of Law Firm’s Suit Seeking Payment For Invoices

    MIAMI — An excess directors and officers liability insurer moved to dismiss 11 of 12 claims in a law firm’s lawsuit seeking payment for the legal representation of its insured, alleging the law firm failed to state a cause of action and the claims are “nothing more than repeated attempts” to have the insurer pay two invoices.

  • January 28, 2025

    Pari Passu Advocated By Policyholders Seeking To Intervene In Rehabilitation

    HARTFORD, Conn. — A second motion to intervene has been filed in the Connecticut state court rehabilitation proceeding of life insurer PHL Variable Insurance Co. and the subsidiaries that reinsure its liabilities, this one by two policyholders who say their policies are worth millions and want a moratorium order to be modified to pay death benefits on a pari passu basis instead of capping such benefits at $300,000.

  • January 28, 2025

    Reinsurer To 6th Circuit: Arbitration Awards Can Be Basis For Collateral Estoppel

    CINCINNATI — Arguing in part that “judicial review of arbitration awards is still available under the Federal Arbitration Act,” a reinsurer urged the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold a ruling that collateral estoppel applies to a defense costs dispute concerning asbestos lawsuits.

  • January 28, 2025

    Suit Seeking Coverage For Chemical Exposure Injuries Removed To Federal Court

    SEATTLE — An insurer acted in bad faith and breached its contract by withdrawing its defense of an insured in an underlying suit alleging that a couple’s exposure to chemicals distributed by the insured caused the couple’s child to be born with spina bifida, the insured says in a complaint removed by the insurer to Washington federal court.

  • 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

    Subcontractor Offers Judgment In Suit Arising From Damage To Construction Project

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A subcontractor filed a notice in a Florida federal court serving offer of judgment to a plaintiff in its lawsuit alleging that a surety breached a performance bond by denying liability for damage to its construction project allegedly caused by the subcontractor’s “defective and deficient work.”

  • January 27, 2025

    Condo Developer Asks 10th Circuit To Reconsider Ruling Granting New Trial

    DENVER — A condominium developer filed a “relatively narrow” petition in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking a panel rehearing of the court’s grant of an new trial following its reversal of a $2.54 million jury award in favor of the developer after finding that the developer cannot recover under a builders risk insurance policy for repair costs of a cracked concrete slab that it has not paid and has no obligation to pay, arguing that rehearing is both “appropriate and necessary” to correct the court’s errors, preserve the parts of the jury verdict that were fairly found and “avoid the significant costs of a wholesale retrial.”

  • January 24, 2025

    Any-Occupation Ruling Must Be Reversed, Disability Claimant Tells 11th Circuit

    ATLANTA — A district court’s ruling that a disability insurer’s termination of benefits after 11 years was not arbitrary and capricious must be reversed because the evidence shows that the claimant’s disability worsened and that the insurer’s handling of the medical evidence was unreasonable, a disability claimant tells the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in her appellant brief.

  • January 24, 2025

    Excess CGL Insurers Dispute Coverage For Hundreds Of Opioid Suits Against Insured

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Excess commercial general liability insurers sued their management consulting firm insured and other insurers in a Delaware court, seeking a declaration that they have no duty to defend and indemnify against more than 260 underlying lawsuits seeking to hold the insured accountable for contributing to and profiting from the opioid epidemic.

  • January 22, 2025

    Judgment In Favor Of Disability Insurer Should Be Reversed, Claimant Says

    ATLANTA — A district court erred in entering judgment in favor of a disability insurer because objective medical evidence supports a finding that a disability claimant’s medical conditions and limitations prevented her from performing the material duties of any occupation, the claimant says in an appellant brief filed in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • January 21, 2025

    Insurers Appeal Ruling In D&O Coverage Dispute With Under Armour

    BALTIMORE — Insurers filed a notice indicating that they are asking the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to review a Maryland federal court’s grant of Under Armour Inc.’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in its directors and officers liability insurers’ lawsuit seeking a declaration that they owe no coverage for underlying investigations brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice, shareholder demand letters and a securities class action.

  • January 21, 2025

    Disability Claimant To 7th Circuit: Lower Court Erred In Finding Burden Not Met

    CHICAGO — A district court erred in finding that a disability claimant failed to meet her burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that she remained disabled from working in a sedentary occupation as a result of symptoms related to fibromyalgia because the lower court ignored relevant precedent in finding that the claimant was no longer disabled, the claimant says in an appellant brief filed in the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • January 21, 2025

    Condo Association Files Complaint, Says Hidden Damage Covered Under Policy

    SEATTLE — A property insurer breached its contract and acted in bad faith when it denied a condominium association’s claim for hidden water damage because the hidden damage was caused by a covered cause of loss and is not excluded under the policies at issue, an insured contends in a complaint filed in Washington federal court.

  • January 21, 2025

    Building Owner Appeals Attorney Fee Award In Coverage Suit Over Structural Damage

    PHOENIX — A building owner insured filed a notice in an Arizona federal court indicating that it is appealing the court’s order awarding $198,234 in attorney fees to a commercial property insurer after granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment in the insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for structural damage to its building.

  • January 17, 2025

    Declaratory Judgment Suit Focuses On Reinsurance, Legionnaires’ Disease Claims

    DETROIT — Alleging breach of a reinsurance agreement and seeking declaratory judgment, a captive insurer filed a lawsuit in Michigan federal court over claims concerning Legionnaires’ disease.

  • January 17, 2025

    Argument Set For Hawaii Supreme Court Case On Wildfire Settlement Subrogation

    HONOLULU — An amicus curiae group called the “Consolidated Class Plaintiffs” will take part in Feb. 6 oral argument after the Hawaii Supreme Court expanded the time allotted in the case concerning reserved questions on how the subrogation rights of property and casualty insurance carriers bear on a proposed global settlement of claims related to the August 2023 Maui wildfires; additionally, a pending opposed motion seeks to stay a lower court’s allocation proceeding.

  • January 17, 2025

    Bid To Pursue Resolution With Vesttoo Affiliate In Israel Draws Opposition

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Israeli investors’ request for a Delaware federal bankruptcy court to grant relief from the injunction in the Chapter 11 liquidation of Vesttoo Ltd. and dozens of affiliates so they can pursue arbitration and/or liquidation proceedings in Israel has drawn objections that the investors argue should be rejected.

  • January 15, 2025

    Texas Sues Allstate For Collecting, Selling ‘Trillions Of Miles’ Of Driving Data

    CONROE, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a petition in Texas state court against The Allstate Corp., accusing the “insurance giant” of secretly collecting the driving behavior of more than 45 million Americans and selling the data to third parties in violation of the state’s data privacy and insurance laws.

  • January 14, 2025

    Insureds Say Pollution Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage For Remediation Costs

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A pollution exclusion does not bar coverage for investigation and remediation costs incurred by insureds as a result of contamination discovered at and near the site of an insured dry cleaning business because the pollution exclusion is ambiguous and must be construed in favor of coverage, the insureds maintain in response to an insurer’s motion for summary judgment filed in New Mexico federal court.