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Mealey's Catastrophic Loss

  • February 21, 2025

    Florida Panel: No Coverage Owed For Insured’s Untimely Tropical Storm Eta Claim

    MIAMI — A Florida appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an insurer in an insured’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for his property damage caused by Tropical Storm Eta, concluding that the lower court did not err when it ruled that the insured did not rebut the presumption of prejudice from his untimely claim.

  • February 12, 2025

    Panel Reverses Attorney Fees Award In Octogenarian’s Bad Faith Suit Over Hail Damage

    FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas appeals panel reversed and remanded a trial court’s award of appellate attorney fees in favor of an octogenarian insured in her bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for her roof damage caused by hail and wind and affirmed the remainder of the lower court’s judgment, finding that the evidence was sufficiently strong to support the jury's conclusion that the insurer knowingly took advantage of the insured’s “‘lack of knowledge, ability, experience, or capacity . . . to a grossly unfair degree.’”

  • February 11, 2025

    Hawaii High Court Answers Questions On Subrogation Issues For Wildfire Settlement

    HONOLULU — The Hawaii Supreme Court on Feb. 10 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, remanding the case to the Second Circuit Court of Hawaii.

  • February 11, 2025

    Judge Refuses To Modify Terms Of Injunction In Baltimore Bridge Collapse Suit

    BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland denied the state of Maryland and an insurer’s motions to partially lift a stay 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, concluding that although many of the movants’ contentions are “well-taken,” the court declines to exercise its discretion to modify the terms of the injunction.

  • February 10, 2025

    California Panel Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Wildfire Coverage Dispute

    LOS ANGELES — A California appeals panel held that a homeowners insurance policy did not cover the insureds’ claim for wildfire damage to their home, affirming a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the insurer on the insureds’ claims for breach of contract and bad faith.

  • February 07, 2025

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

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 6 held that a lower federal court properly granted summary judgment in favor of a homeowners insurer as to the insured’s extracontractual bad faith claims in a wind damage coverage dispute, finding that the insured is barred him from recovering any additional damages from the insurer under Texas Supreme Court precedent.

  • February 07, 2025

    Federal Jury Awards Insured $39.9M In Damages In Hailstorm Coverage Dispute

    TYLER, Texas — A jury in a Texas federal court unanimously awarded an insured $4,838,747 in damages for its commercial property insurer’s breach of contract and $35 million in exemplary damages for the insurer’s breach of its 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.

  • February 05, 2025

    Canadian Court Affirms Retrocessionaire’s Loss In ‘Follow Settlements’ Dispute

    TORONTO — The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal concerning a retrocession agreement’s “follow settlements” clause in a dispute over settlement of a business interruption claim, letting stand a trial court’s September 2023 ruling for a fronting reinsurer.

  • 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 03, 2025

    Panel Affirms Denial Of Condo Owner’s Motion To Intervene In Class Action Suit

    GRETNA, La. — A Louisiana appeals court affirmed a lower court’s denial of a condominium unit owner’s motion to intervene in a class action lawsuit arising from Hurricane Ida property damage, concluding that the movant failed to satisfy the required elements to intervene pursuant to Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 1091.

  • January 31, 2025

    Majority Affirms Ruling In Insurers’ Favor In Bad Faith Suit Over Flood Deductible

    NEW ORLEANS — A majority of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a lower federal court did not err in determining that the extrinsic evidence resolved an ambiguity in favor of the insurers’ interpretation of a policy flood deductible, affirming the lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the insurers in a general contractor’s bad faith lawsuit arising from flood damage at a hotel renovation.

  • January 30, 2025

    Louisiana Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Hurricane Ida Coverage Dispute As Untimely

    GRETNA, La. — A Louisiana appeals panel on Jan. 29 affirmed a lower court’s judgment that sustained Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association’s peremptory exception of prescription and dismissed with prejudice an insured’s coverage dispute over Hurricane Ida damage, agreeing with the lower court that the insured failed to timely deliver the original of his petition for damages to the court and his fax-filed petition was “without any force or effect.”

  • January 29, 2025

    Panel Reverses Judgment In Baylor College Of Medicine’s Favor In COVID-19 Dispute

    HOUSTON — Noting an issue of first impression, a Texas appeals court concluded Jan. 28 that the presence of COVID-19 at the Baylor College of Medicine did not cause “direct physical loss of or damage to” to the insured’s property and reversed a lower court’s judgment following a jury verdict in favor of the insured.

  • January 29, 2025

    Panel Upholds Dismissal Of Hurricane Damage Suit Against Property Insurer

    NEW ORLEANS — An insured’s breach of contract and bad faith claims stemming from a dispute over coverage for property damages sustained during a hurricane to 18 rental properties were properly dismissed because the insured failed to provide sufficient facts or details regarding the damages sustained to the properties and the property insurer’s handling of the insured’s claim, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said.

  • January 29, 2025

    Pennsylvania Court Affirms Dismissal Of All Claims In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — Reconsidering its previous ruling on remand in light of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in Ungarean v. CNA & Valley Forge Ins. Co., a Pennsylvania court affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of all claims brought by an insured in a coronavirus coverage dispute.

  • January 27, 2025

    Panel Affirms Ruling In Favor Of Insurer, Agent In Camp Fire Coverage Dispute

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California appeals court on Jan. 24 affirmed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of a homeowners insurer and an insurance agent in a negligence lawsuit arising from the November 2018 Camp Fire, concluding that the agent’s alleged misrepresentations pertain to the scope of coverage under an insurance policy that was no longer in effect at the time of the wildfire loss.

  • January 24, 2025

    Reality TV Stars Sue Los Angeles, Public Utility To Recover Palisades Fire Losses

    LOS ANGELES — Realty television stars Spencer and Heidi Pratt and others sued Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) for inverse condemnation in a California court, alleging that the Palisades Fire that began on Jan. 7 “was an inescapable and unavoidable consequence of the water supply system servicing areas in and around Pacific Palisades” and that the defendants’ operation of the system and related infrastructure was a substantial cause of their damages.

  • January 24, 2025

    Hawaii Court Won’t Stay Allocation Proceeding Pending Subrogation Ruling

    HONOLULU — Without explanation, a Hawaii Supreme Court justice denied a motion to stay a lower court’s allocation proceeding pending the resolution of 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.

  • January 24, 2025

    Panel Partly Reverses Ruling In Retirement Facilities’ Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    CHICAGO — An Illinois appellate court panel reversed a lower court’s dismissal of insureds’ claim against one insurer in their lawsuit seeking “Contaminated Food/Communicable Disease Coverage,” finding that the application of the policy’s “Pathogenic or Poisonous or Chemical Materials” exclusion “would completely eviscerate that coverage and render it illusory,” but otherwise affirmed the lower court’s ruling in the insureds’ lawsuit prompted by the losses incurred by their continuing care retirement facilities following the COVID-19 outbreak.

  • January 24, 2025

    Federal Court Dismisses Hospital’s Coronavirus Coverage Suit Following Settlement

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal court dismissed without prejudice a hospital insured’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic after the insured and its commercial property insurer announced that they reached a settlement.

  • January 23, 2025

    16 Suits Filed Against Southern California Edison To Recover Eaton Wildfire Damages

    LOS ANGELES — A “long time” real estate agent in Altadena, Calif., sued Southern California Edison Co. and Edison International in the Los Angeles County Superior Court seeking compensation for damages she suffered from the Eaton Wildfire and alleging that the fire began “when electrical equipment within Southern California Edison Company’s utility infrastructure contacted, or caused sparks to contact, surrounding vegetation,” making her lawsuit the 16th one filed against the defendants to date.

  • January 22, 2025

    Judge Vacates Order Compelling Arbitration Of $7M Hurricane Claim

    NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge, citing new Louisiana Supreme Court precedent on the arbitrability of insurance claims, granted a motion filed by two New Orleans property owners’ to vacate an order compelling arbitration of their claims for $7 million in damages caused by Hurricane Ida and for bad faith against a group of foreign and domestic insurers, a ruling that was previously upheld by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • January 21, 2025

    Federal Judge: No Coverage Owed For Fire Damage To Insured’s Cannabis Crops

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A federal judge in Connecticut on Jan. 21 entered judgment in favor of an insurer after granting its motion 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, concluding that there is no coverage owed because the insured’s loss did not result from a suspension of its operations.

  • 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

    Issues Of Fact Exist As To Cause Of Insureds’ Shutdown During Wildfires

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge partially denied an insurer’s motion for summary judgment in a breach of contract and bad faith case filed by insureds seeking additional coverage for business losses incurred as a result of wildfires after determining that issues of fact exist as to whether two of the insureds’ businesses were forced to close for a period of time because of soot and ash damages from the fires.