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Mealey's Catastrophic Loss

  • March 28, 2025

    5th Circuit Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Bad Faith Suit Over Storm Damage

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s judgment in favor of an insurer in a Texas insured’s bad faith lawsuit arising from a coverage dispute over wind and hail property damage, finding that the insured fully recovered its entitled-to insurance benefits and failed to present evidence that supports an independent injury caused by the insurer’s purported violations of the Texas Insurance Code.

  • March 26, 2025

    5th Circuit Reverses Dismissal With Prejudice Of Hurricane Ida Coverage Dispute

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 25 reversed a lower federal court’s ruling that a plaintiff lacked standing to sue an insurer for breach of contract and bad faith in a coverage dispute over property damage that was caused by Hurricane Ida, finding that the plaintiff might be able to plead plausible facts to support her third-party beneficiary status.

  • March 26, 2025

    5th Circuit Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Winter Storm Uri Coverage Dispute

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded that because insureds have recovered their insurance policy benefits in full through the insurer’s payment of the appraisal award and statutory interest, they cannot recover bad faith damages in their lawsuit arising from damage caused by winter storm Uri.

  • March 24, 2025

    R.I. High Court Vacates Appraisal Award Due To Evident Partiality Of Appraiser

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Rhode Island Supreme Court vacated an appraisal award in a coverage dispute over windstorm damage to an insured’s property, finding that it is “quite evident” that the insured’s appointed appraiser “had a direct financial interest in the award” because he was the sole owner and operator of a contracting business that repaired the insured’s home and the assignee of the insured’s claim under her homeowners insurance policy.

  • March 21, 2025

    Florida Panel Affirms No Coverage Ruling In Insureds’ Coronavirus Suit

    MIAMI — A Florida appeals court panel held that hotel insureds are not owed business interruption coverage in the absence of “direct physical loss” or “damage” to their properties, affirming a lower court’s ruling in favor of the insurer in a coverage dispute arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • March 20, 2025

    Hawaii High Court Opines On Answers As To Insurer’s Subrogation Rights

    HONOLULU — The Hawaii Supreme Court issue an 80-page opinion expanding on its earlier order that answered three 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.

  • March 20, 2025

    Florida Panel Reverses $541,257 Award In Insureds’ Favor In Hurricane Sally Suit

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida appeals court on March 19 reversed a jury’s $541,257 award in favor of insureds in their breach of contract lawsuit against their insurer arising from Hurricane Sally property damage, holding that the insureds failed to demonstrate sufficient evidence that the insurer did not adjust the actual cash value of their loss or the replacement cost of their damaged property.

  • March 19, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Suit Against GEICO After Parties File Joint Notice Of Dismissal

    CHICAGO — The same day the parties filed a joint notice of dismissal, an Illinois federal judge dismissed with prejudice insureds’ lawsuit alleging that auto insurers violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act by charging “excessive” premiums during the COVID-19 pandemic that failed to account for a dramatic reduction in driving.

  • March 18, 2025

    Insurer Seeks Take-Nothing Judgment After Jury Awards Insured $39.9M In Storm Suit

    TYLER, Texas — A commercial property insurer moved for full judgment as a matter of law and alternatively a new trial after a jury in a Texas federal court unanimously awarded its insured $4,838,747 in damages for its breach of contract and $35 million in exemplary damages for its breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing in a coverage dispute arising from property damage that was caused by an April 12, 2020, wind and hailstorm.

  • March 13, 2025

    Judge: N.Y. Law Governs Insured’s Coverage Suit Arising From Hurricane Ida Damage

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York concluded that under the state’s choice-of-law rules, a property insurance policy’s choice-of-law clause is valid and, as a result, New York law governs an insured’s declaratory judgment, breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for property damage to its Louisiana restaurant and warehouse that was caused by Hurricane Ida.

  • March 12, 2025

    Victims Of Taliban Attack Cannot Use Bank’s Assets To Satisfy $138M Judgment

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that because a bank account is no longer a “blocked asset” under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, plaintiffs cannot use the bank’s assets to satisfy their $138,418,741 default judgment arising from a 2016 Taliban attack, affirming a lower federal court’s ruling that granted a Ukrainian governmental entity’s motion to intervene and vacated a writ of execution.

  • March 12, 2025

    Split Louisiana Appeals Court Affirms Denial In Guaranty Association Coverage Row

    NEW ORLEANS — A split Louisiana appellate court on March 11 granted the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association’s (LIGA) application for supervisory writ seeking review of a lower court ruling denying LIGA’s exception of prescription in homeowners’ insurance coverage dispute over purported damages from Hurricane Ida but denied relief, finding that the lower court correctly denied LIGA’s exception of prescription because “the order of insolvency triggered the relevant prescriptive period.”

  • March 11, 2025

    Insured’s Water Damage Suit Properly Dismissed For Lack Of Ripeness, Panel Says

    PASADENA, Calif. — A district court properly dismissed an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith suit stemming from a water damage coverage dispute because the insured’s claims are not ripe based on a petition filed by the property insurer in Rhode Island state court to appoint an umpire to conduct an appraisal proceeding, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in affirming the lower court’s ruling.

  • March 10, 2025

    5th Circuit Reverses Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Suit Arising From Rainstorm

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 7 reversed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of a homeowners insurer as to the proper allocation of the burden of proof relative to causation, vacated the dismissal of insureds’ breach of contract claim and remanded the coverage dispute arising from roof damage following a Greenwood, Miss., rainstorm.

  • March 10, 2025

    Iowa High Court Affirms Ruling In Favor Of Insurer In School District’s Lawsuit

    DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Supreme Court on March 7 affirmed a lower court’s ruling in favor of a commercial property insurer, finding that under the plain language of unambiguous exception to the insurance policy’s “ordinance and law” provision, the insurer must pay only to repair the insured’s school building damage caused by a partial roof collapse following a snow storm but does not have to pay the cost to remedy the longstanding deterioration in other areas of the school building that were unaffected by the collapse.

  • March 10, 2025

    Magistrate Dismisses Bad Faith Suit Over Hurricane Irma Damage After Parties Settle

    FORT MYERS, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida signed an order of dismissal one day after a condominium insured voluntary dismissed with prejudice its bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for property damage caused by Hurricane Irma.

  • March 07, 2025

    Judge: Insurer Timely Filed Motion For Attorney Fees In Hurricane Sally Suit

    PENSACOLA, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida granted a commercial property insurer’s motion for attorney fees after granting its motion for summary judgment in a coverage dispute arising from Hurricane Sally property damage, rejecting the insured’s argument that the motion for attorney fees was untimely.

  • March 07, 2025

    Contractor Has Standing To Seek Reformation Of Policy, 11th Circuit Rules

    ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a general contractor has Article III standing to seek reformation of an insurance policy and a lower court erred in dismissing the reformation counterclaim but affirmed the lower court’s ruling that a commercial general liability insurance policy’s course-of-construction exclusion (COCE) bars coverage for water damage in a suit stemming from the subcontractor’s alleged faulty installation of cladding and glazing systems in a construction job.

  • March 06, 2025

    Judge Grants Judgment For Insurers In Condominium Attorney Fee Dispute

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted summary judgment for insurers as to a condominium association’s claim for attorney fees in a breach of contract suit filed against insurers over their failure to cover a condominium’s hurricane-related losses, finding that because New York law applies and lacks a provision justifying attorney fee recovery, the claim for attorney fees under Florida law fails.

  • March 06, 2025

    Baylor College Of Medicine Seeks Texas High Court Review Of COVID-19 Coverage Suit

    AUSTIN, Texas — Baylor College of Medicine filed a petition in the Texas Supreme Court seeking review of an appeals court’s conclusion that the presence of the COVID-19 virus at its premises did not cause “direct physical loss of or damage to” to its property, challenging the appeals court’s reversal of a lower court’s judgment following a jury verdict in the school’s favor.

  • March 04, 2025

    COMMENTARY: Sustainability Recalibration: What Insurers And Policyholders Should Know About ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance Considerations) Under Trump 2.0, Part 1

    By Scott M. Seaman

  • February 27, 2025

    Petitioners In Baltimore Bridge Collapse Suit Ordered To Be Deposed In U.S.

    BALTIMORE — A federal chief magistrate judge in Maryland on Feb. 26 granted claimants’ motion to compel petitioners and their management agents and employees to submit to depositions in a Maryland federal court in an exoneration lawsuit brought by the owner and technical manager of the ship that allided with and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

  • February 27, 2025

    Florida Panel Reverses Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Hurricane Coverage Suit

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida appeals panel on Feb. 26 concluded that Florida Statutes Section 624.1551 cannot be applied retroactively to an insured’s bad faith lawsuit seeking extracontractual damages from her insurer, reversing a lower court’s judgment in favor of the insurer and remanding with directions to deny the insurer’s motion to dismiss and reinstate the coverage lawsuit over hurricane damage.

  • February 26, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Hospital’s $2.5M D&O Coverage Suit Over DOJ, AG Investigations

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted an insurer’s motion to dismiss a hospital insured’s breach of contract lawsuit, finding that the insurer’s liability is capped by the Regulatory Claim Endorsement’s $1 million sublimit and that the hospital failed to allege that the insurer breached its duty to pay for its $2.5 million in remaining defense expenses arising from underlying criminal federal and state investigations into the hospital’s employees and officers.

  • February 25, 2025

    Louisiana High Court Refuses To Review Ruling In Hurricane Ida Coverage Dispute

    NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana Supreme Court on Feb. 25 denied an insured’s application for writ of certiorari seeking review of a First Circuit Louisiana Court of Appeal panel majority’s holding that a lower court properly interpreted the state Legislature's amendment of Louisiana Revised Statutes Section 22:1892(H) by Act 290 to be a procedural change that applied retroactively and, as a result, eliminated any class action for damages, including bad faith penalties, brought against the state’s insurer of last resort.