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

Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

August 12, 2024
Marine Insurer, Insured Toss Suit After Judge Says Insured Breached Express Warranty

PHILADELPHIA — A marine insurer and a yacht owner insured filed a joint stipulation asking a Pennsylvania federal court to dismiss with prejudice all claims in the insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that the insured’s failure to recertify or inspect its fire-suppression equipment rendered its maritime insurance policy void from the beginning approximately one month after a judge granted the insurer’s motion for summary judgment and found that the insured breached the express warranty.
August 07, 2024
Insurer Seeks Extension In $3.8M Murdaugh Housekeeper Heirs Settlement Dispute

CHARLESTON, S.C. — An insurer moved for an extension to respond to parties opposing the insurer’s bid for reconsideration of a South Carolina federal court’s ruling denying summary judgment to the insurer in its suit seeking a declaration that it is entitled to recover the $3.8 million it paid to settle a claim brought by the estate of Alex Murdaugh’s former housekeeper, which the estate never received due to the purported fraud of Murdaugh and his alleged conspirators.
August 07, 2024
Progressive Seeks To Void Insured’s Auto Policy, Deny ‘Staged’ Accident Coverage

FLORENCE, S.C. — Progressive Direct Insurance Co. filed suit in a South Carolina federal court against its insured and passengers in her vehicle that was in an accident, seeking a declaration that the insured’s auto policy is void due to material misrepresentations she purportedly made in the policy application and seeking a declaration that no coverage is owed for the auto accident that Progressive Direct claims was “staged.”
August 07, 2024
Insurers, Claims Administrator Seek Dismissal Of Lawsuit Over Asbestos Judgment

NEW YORK — Sparring with a man who obtained a multimillion-dollar asbestos exposure judgment against a dissolved manufacturer, a third-party claims administrator urges a New York federal court to grant its dismissal motion, arguing in its reply brief that it “has located no legal precedent to support” the man’s theory that he is “an ‘implied assignee’” of the manufacturer.
August 06, 2024
Disability Claimant Says Award Of Benefits, Not Remand, Is Appropriate Remedy

BALTIMORE — Reconsideration of a Maryland federal judge’s decision to remand a long-term disability (LTD) benefits claim is warranted because an award of benefits, rather than remand of the claim, is the appropriate form of relief, a disability claimant says in a reply brief in support of her motion for partial reconsideration of the judge’s ruling.
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 06, 2024
Parties Dispute ‘Insurrection,’ Other Issues In Post-Trial Appeal Of Oil Seizure Row

NEW YORK — A partial summary judgment ruling, judicial notice and a jury instruction on causation are all at issue in a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case filed by reinsurers who were ordered to pay CITGO Petroleum Corp. more than $72.5 million in a suit stemming from the February 2020 seizure of crude oil at a Venezuelan port and involving a marine cargo reinsurance policy.
August 05, 2024
Insurers Announce Settlement In Coverage Dispute Over Faulty Construction Claims

DENVER — A plaintiff insurer and one of the defendant insurers filed a joint notice of settlement in a Colorado federal court in a dispute over coverage for a construction company accused of causing damages to homes through faulty construction.
August 05, 2024
Judge Dismisses Two Parties In State Farm’s Auto Accident No-Fault Fraud Suit

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — After State Farm filed a stipulation of dismissal as to two parties, a New York federal judge issued docket-only orders dismissing a physical therapy practice and a physical therapist as defendants in State Farm’s suit alleging that medical providers submitted for reimbursement to State Farm fraudulent bills for ineligible or medically unnecessary services provided to auto accident victims eligible for State Farm no-fault benefits.
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 31, 2024
Plaintiffs Seek Reargument In Coverage Dispute Over Earplug Liability Claims

WILMINGTON, Del. — Plaintiffs seeks reargument of a Delaware judge’s ruling in favor of liability insurers in their lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying earplug product liability multidistrict litigation that resulted in a $6 billion settlement and millions of dollars of defense costs, challenging the judge’s finding that they have failed to demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact regarding their satisfaction of the self-insured retention under any of the insurance policies.
July 30, 2024
Insured Appeals Take-Nothing Judgment In Coverage Dispute Over Wrongful Termination

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — An insured filed a notice in a Florida federal court indicating that he is asking the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to review a take-nothing judgment in favor of a primary insurer in his lawsuit seeking coverage under a professional liability, directors and officer's liability and fiduciary liability insurance policy for underlying claims that he was wrongfully terminated by his former employer.
July 29, 2024
Broker’s Application For Reargument Is ‘Theatrical Rhetoric,’ Insured Argues

PHILADELPHIA — An insured answered an insurance broker’s application seeking reargument after a Pennsylvania appellate panel affirmed a lower court’s ruling that denied the broker’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict in a coverage dispute arising from an injury from a slip and fall, asserting that the broker’s application for reargument “ignores the standard of review” governing the broker’s appeal and the appellate panel’s decision.
July 29, 2024
After Forced Deal, Insurer Sues Reinsurer’s Former Parent Company In Federal Court

NEW YORK — Alleging a “$300 million fraud,” an insurer sued a holding company in New York federal court, asserting claims for securities and common-law fraud and breach of contract in connection with the insurer’s April 14 purchase of Bermuda-based reinsurer JRG Reinsurance Company Ltd.
July 29, 2024
Ex-NFL Player Seeks High Court Review, Says Wrong Standard Of Review Applied

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A former National Football League player filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, contending that the high court should review the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that he failed to prove that he is entitled to additional disability benefits under the NFL’s benefits plan because a de novo standard of review should have been applied based on the plan’s procedural violations.
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 26, 2024
Ex-Underwriter’s Dismissal Bid Skirts Main Claim In Breach Of Contract Row

MIAMI — Noting that he does not seek dismissal of a claim that he says the bulk of the allegations relate to, a former underwriter on July 25 moved in Florida federal court for dismissal of the other two claims in a suit over conduct that an insurer alleges included greatly exceeding his authority by executing a facultative retrocession agreement to cover a risk of more than $44 million.
July 25, 2024
Insurer Says Other Insurer Owes Coverage To Insured For Hot Tub Injury Suit

SAN JOSE, Calif. — An insurer filed suit in California federal court against another insurer, seeking a declaration that a pollution exclusion and fungi or bacteria exclusion in the other insurer’s policies do not bar coverage to a mutual insured for an underlying suit alleging that the insured’s failure to maintain a hot tub caused an individual to sustain bodily injuries.
July 24, 2024
Parties In Good Farming Practices Row Don’t Want Rebriefing Under Loper Bright

LUBBOCK, Texas — In a brief joint notice ordered by a Texas federal judge, a farmer and regulators agree that the U.S. Supreme Court decision overruling a deference doctrine does not necessitate rebriefing their pending motions for summary judgment and judgment on the administrative record in a crop insurance case.
July 24, 2024
CMS, HHS Seek Dismissal Of Guaranty Association’s MSP Suit Against Them

RALEIGH, N.C. — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), its secretary and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 23 filed a brief in North Carolina federal court supporting summary judgment and dismissal of the North Carolina Insurance Guaranty Association’s (NCIGA) suit against them, arguing that the secretary correctly found that NCIGA, as a primary plan under the federal Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) statute, must reimburse CMS for a workers’ compensation claim involving an insolvent insurer.
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 22, 2024
Plaintiff Sues Over Penalties Assessed In Connection With Captive Insurance Program

PITTSBURGH — Demanding a jury trial, a Pittsburgh-based corporation has filed a suit in Pennsylvania federal court seeking a refund of its $989,000 partial payment of penalties that were assessed after the Internal Revenue Service decided that its involvement with a purported captive insurance program constituted tax shelter promotion.
July 19, 2024
Insureds File Contempt Motion In Hurricane Coverage Row With Guaranty Association

LAKE CHARLES, La. — Insureds whose rental property purportedly incurred hurricane damage filed a contempt motion in Louisiana federal court against an independent adjustor for its failure to respond to a subpoena in their hurricane coverage dispute with the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA), which was substituted for their now-insolvent insurer.
July 19, 2024
Insurer Disputes D&O Coverage For Fraudulent Inducement Lawsuit

CHICAGO — An insurer filed suit in an Illinois federal court, seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify against an underlying lawsuit alleging that a seller and its venture capital sponsor defrauded buyers into purchasing the company SwervePay LLC.
July 18, 2024
Dismissal Bid Disputed In Breach Of Contract Case Against Reinsurance Broker

DALLAS — In dismissal filings in Texas federal court, parties in a breach of contract suit over losses associated with the collapse of Vesttoo Ltd. are disputing what the contract at issue required a reinsurance broker to do and whether two non-parties are necessary entities for the case.