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Mealey's Emerging Insurance Disputes

  • February 21, 2025

    Legal Counsel Seeks Over $126K For Fees And Expenses In Insurer Bankruptcy Case

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Legal counsel for a trustee for estates in an insolvent insurer’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding filed an application in Delaware federal bankruptcy court seeking compensation and reimbursement of expenses for a total of $126,307.16.

  • February 20, 2025

    N.Y. Appeals Court: Coverage Owed For Insured’s Loss Of 502,315 Soybean Bushels

    NEW YORK — A New York appeals court affirmed a lower court’s grant of a physical commodities trader insured’s motion for partial summary judgment on declaratory judgment and breach of contract counterclaims against its insurers in their lawsuit disputing coverage for the insured’s loss of 502,315 bushels of soybeans, agreeing with the lower court that the insured established an actual loss under the policies.

  • February 19, 2025

    Judge Partly Rejects Magistrate’s Report In Coverage Suit Over Retaliation Claims

    MIAMI — A federal judge in Florida affirmed in part and rejected in part a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation in a coverage dispute over retaliation claims against Miami and its employees, denying the city’s motion to dismiss the insurer’s declaratory judgment lawsuit, granting the insurer’s motion to stay proceedings as to the unripe duty-to-indemnify claims and quashing discovery requests.

  • February 19, 2025

    Media Tech Insurer, Financial Services Firm Settle Data Breach Coverage Dispute

    SEATTLE — A media tech insurer that filed suit and its financial services firm insured filed a notice in a Washington federal court indicating they have settled the insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify the insured for a bank’s indemnification demand for a data breach incident and a related subrogation lawsuit brought by the bank’s insurer.

  • February 18, 2025

    Excess Insurer Appeals Ruling In BIPA Violation Coverage Dispute

    CHICAGO — An excess insurer filed a notice indicating that it is appealing an Illinois federal court’s ruling granting in part and denying in part cross-motions for summary judgment in a franchisee of the Burger King chain’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking a declaration that the insurer has a duty to defend against an underlying putative class lawsuit alleging that the insured violated the Illinois Biometric Information Protection Act (BIPA).

  • February 18, 2025

    Class Action Alleges Allstate Collected, Sold Data Without Plaintiffs’ Consent

    CHICAGO — A class action complaint filed in Illinois federal court alleges that The Allstate Corp. and its subsidiaries collected and sold the plaintiffs’ personal data and “‘trillions of miles’ worth of ‘driving behavior’” data without their consent.

  • February 13, 2025

    COMMENTARY: The Top Twelve Insurance Coverage Decisions Of 2024

    By Robert D. Chesler, Seán McCabe, Madilynne Lee and James A. Goodridge

  • February 14, 2025

    Insurer’s Dismissal Motion Partially Denied In Suit Alleging It Illegally Employs AI

    MINNEAPOLIS — A federal magistrate judge in Minnesota on Feb. 13 granted in part and denied in part an insurer’s motion to dismiss a class complaint alleging it illegally uses artificial intelligence (AI) to deny elderly insureds medically necessary care based on a model that the insurer knows “has a 90% error rate,” allowing breach of contract and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing claims to proceed.

  • February 14, 2025

    Panel: No Coverage For Unfair Competition Suit Against Furniture Delivery Company

    PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals determined that an insurer has no duty to defend its furniture delivery company insured against an underlying misappropriation of trade secrets and unfair competition lawsuit brought by a competitor, affirming a lower federal court’s grant of the insurer’s motion for summary judgment in the insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit.

  • February 13, 2025

    Triable Issues Exist As To Whether Insurer Paid Attorney Fees As Part Of Settlement

    LOS ANGELES — A California appeals panel held that there are triable issues regarding whether a plaintiff insurer paid any of tenants’ attorney fees as part of the settlement of an underlying lawsuit alleging substandard conditions at the insured’s 28-unit apartment building, reversing the lower court’s judgment as to the summary adjudication of the plaintiff insurer’s claims for declaratory relief and reimbursement of alleged attorney fees that it paid in the underlying settlement, vacating the award and affirming the judgment in all other respects.

  • February 12, 2025

    Intentional Acts Exclusion Bars Coverage For Injury Suit, Michigan Panel Affirms

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Michigan appeals court affirmed a lower court’s ruling that a homeowners insurance policy’s intentional acts exclusion bars coverage for an underlying personal injury lawsuit, finding that the policy exclusion is not ambiguous.

  • February 12, 2025

    No Coverage Owed For Mother’s Suit Arising From Son’s Murder, Panel Affirms

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 11 affirmed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of insurers in their insureds’ breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for a mother’s intentional infliction of emotional distress action arising from her son’s murder, finding that there was no coverage because the underlying claims did not result from an accident.

  • February 12, 2025

    Diocese Of Trenton Seeks Coverage For ‘Onslaught’ Of Child Sexual Abuse Claims

    TRENTON, N.J. — The Diocese of Trenton filed a declaratory judgment and breach of contract lawsuit in a New Jersey federal court seeking coverage for hundreds of underlying claims brought

  • 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

    Insurer Says No Coverage Due For Underlying Toxic Exposure Suit

    LOS ANGELES — A commercial general liability insurer filed suit in California federal court, seeking a declaration that no coverage is owed for an underlying suit alleging that exposure to the insured’s hair styling straightening products caused individuals to be diagnosed with cancer and leukemia because the insured failed to provide timely notice of the suit and had knowledge before the issuance of the policy that its products were unsafe.

  • 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

    Appellant Asks 8th Circuit To Review No Coverage Ruling For Abuse-Of-Process Claim

    MINNEAPOLIS — A company filed a notice indicating that it is asking the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to review a Minnesota federal court’s grant of a commercial general liability insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in its lawsuit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify its insured against the appellant’s underlying abuse-of-process claim.

  • 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

    8th Circuit: Exclusion Bars CGL Coverage For Loss Caused By Defective Design

    ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 6 affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a commercial general liability insurer in an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for losses caused by a defectively designed hopper bin that catastrophically failed at a Mexico facility, agreeing with the lower court that the policy’s professional services exclusion barred coverage.

  • February 06, 2025

    6th Circuit Stands By No Coverage Ruling In Home Depot’s Suit Over Data Breach

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 5 denied Home Depot’s petition 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 06, 2025

    Delaware High Court Reverses Ruling In D&O Coverage Dispute Over Securities Action

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Supreme Court reversed a Delaware judge’s ruling that an underlying federal securities lawsuit brought in 2016 against a pharmaceutical company insured is not “meaningfully” related to a May 7, 2015, subpoena issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission, finding that directors and officers liability coverage should have been placed in the pharmaceutical company’s first tower of insurance.

  • February 05, 2025

    Insurer Was Prejudiced By Delayed Notice Of Possible Claim, 5th Circuit Affirms

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 4 affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of a marine insurer in a lawsuit arising from a ship’s allision with an embankment, finding that the insurer was actually prejudiced by the insured and additional insured’s failure to provide prompt notice of the allision.

  • 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 05, 2025

    Federal Judge Refuses To Dismiss Malpractice Insurer’s Declaratory Judgment Suit

    OMAHA, Neb. — A federal judge in Nebraska denied an attorney insured’s motion to dismiss its malpractice insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify against an underlying malpractice action, finding that the court has personal jurisdiction and the insurer’s complaint states a plausible claim for relief.

  • February 05, 2025

    Judge Partly Grants Summary Judgment To Insurer In Wrongful Death Coverage Suit

    MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge in Alabama granted in part and denied in part an insurer and its claims handling entity’s motions for summary judgment in an insured’s lawsuit alleging that the insurer wrongfully denied additional insured coverage to the insured’s franchisor for an underlying wrongful death action, further denying the insured’s motion for partial summary judgment.