Mealey's Emerging Insurance Disputes

  • June 24, 2026

    2nd Circuit Affirms Ruling In Favor Of Lessee’s Insurer In Suit Over Injury

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals determined that undisputed facts defeat a landlord insurer’s argument that a lessee’s insurance policy intended to name the landlord as an additional insured and named the insured’s manager only in error, affirming a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the lessee’s insurer in the landlord insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaration that the lessee insurer has a duty to defend and indemnify the landlord in an underlying trip-and-fall lawsuit.

  • June 24, 2026

    Texas Panel Affirms Ruling For Insurer In Dispute Over Missing Wine Bottles

    HOUSTON — A Texas appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit seeking coverage for missing wine bottles that were stored in wine lockers at the insured’s club, ruling that the policies do not provide coverage for third parties who secured a $1,110,411.70 judgment against the insured and the right to enforce coverage.

  • June 23, 2026

    9th Circuit Vacates Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Sexual Abuse Coverage Suit

    PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 22 entered a mandate on its earlier ruling that vacated a lower federal court’s judgment in favor of an excess insurer in a coverage lawsuit over 50-year-old sexual abuse claims brought against a California Catholic diocese, remanding for the lower court to reconsider its ruling in light of the County of San Bernardino v. Ins. Co. of the State of Pennsylvania decision.

  • June 23, 2026

    Judgment Granted For Debris Removal Company In Insurance Policy Rescission Suit

    NEW YORK — Finding that claims that an insured debris removal company and its principal made material misrepresentations in insurance policy applications are time-barred, a New York federal judge granted summary judgment to the company and its principal in the insurer’s suit seeking rescission and a declaration that it does not have a duty to defend or indemnify in underlying actions.

  • June 23, 2026

    Panel: No Homeowners Coverage Owed For Negligence, Social Host Liability Claims

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held June 22 that a lower federal court committed no reversible error when it entered summary judgment in favor of a homeowners insurer in the insurer’s lawsuit disputing coverage for underlying general negligence and social host liability claims arising from a car accident following a “beer Olympics” drinking party that was held at the insured’s home, agreeing with the lower court that the insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify.

  • June 23, 2026

    Federal Judge: Policy Void From Beginning; No Coverage Owed For Sexual Abuse Claims

    OCALA, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida held that the undisputed record demonstrates that an insurer properly rescinded insurance policies due to an insured’s material misrepresentations and has no duty to defend or indemnify the insured under the policies that were void ab initio for claims arising from an underlying sexual abuse lawsuit that was brought against the insured’s owner and manager.

  • June 19, 2026

    Federal Judge Closes BIPA Violation Coverage Suit After Parties Seek Dismissal

    CHICAGO — Three days after the parties filed a stipulation of dismissal, a federal judge in Illinois dismissed an employer’s lawsuit seeking commercial general liability and umbrella insurance coverage for an underlying putative class action alleging that it violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by disseminating electronic information derived from the scanning of its employees’ biometric identifiers to third parties without their consent.

  • June 19, 2026

    Panel: Exclusion Bars Coverage For Insured’s Losses Over Spear Phishing Scheme

    CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 18 affirmed a lower federal court’s dismissal of an insured’s breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking coverage under a financial institution bond for its $4 million in unrecovered losses arising from a spear phishing scheme, agreeing that an exclusion in the bond’s electronic mail initiated transfer fraud coverage provision applies as a bar to coverage.

  • June 19, 2026

    English Judge Awards Fees Against Insureds For Opposing Arbitration In Louisiana

    LONDON — An English judge granted a Bermudian insurer’s application for an anti-suit injunction against several insureds based in Texas and Louisiana who sued the insurer in Louisiana and have refused to arbitrate COVID-19 insurance claims, finding that a Louisiana state law barring arbitration of insurance disputes does not apply to the insurer’s arbitration agreement and awarding it more than $700,000 and 400,000 English pounds in attorney fees and costs.

  • June 18, 2026

    Giant Eagle: Late Notice Of Opioid Suits Caused D&O Insurers To Deny Coverage

    PITTSBURGH — Giant Eagle Inc. sued its insurance broker in a Pennsylvania federal court on June 17, alleging that the broker’s late notice to its insurers of underlying lawsuits arising from the opioid epidemic jeopardized its right to $40 million in directors and officers liability coverage to defend the underlying actions.

  • June 17, 2026

    Albertsons Appeals No Coverage Ruling For Opioid Liability Suits

    DOVER, Del. — Grocery store chain Albertsons filed a notice of appeal asking the Delaware Supreme Court to review a lower court’s holding that its commercial general liability insurers have no duty to defend and indemnify against underlying lawsuits seeking to hold it liable for damages arising from the opioid epidemic.

  • June 17, 2026

    Texas High Court Agrees To Review Take Nothing Judgment In Exxon’s Coverage Suit

    AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court granted Exxon Mobile Corp.’s petition seeking review of an appellate court’s ruling that reversed and rendered judgment that Exxon take nothing against its umbrella insurer in its lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying $35 million injury settlement arising from an oil refinery explosion.

  • June 16, 2026

    Delaware High Court Refuses To Review Ruling On ‘Public Offering’ Exclusion

    DOVER, Del.—The Delaware Supreme Court refused an insurer’s application for certification of interlocutory appeal of a lower court’s grant of partial summary judgment in favor of a technology company insured seeking coverage for an underlying securities class action and a Securities Exchange Commission lawsuit arising from a merger between a privately held company and a special purpose acquisition company, declining to disturb the lower court’s interpretation of the policy’s “public offering” exclusion.

  • June 16, 2026

    N.Y. Panel Refuses To Disturb Ruling In Coverage Suit Over Fatal Shooting

    ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York appeals panel affirmed the Chenango County, N.Y., Supreme Court’s ruling that consolidated two declaratory judgment lawsuits over a fatal shooting and transferred them to the Washington County Supreme Court, holding that the record establishes that the underlying shooting and all other purported acts that could implicate the homeowners insurance policy at issue occurred in Washington County.

  • June 16, 2026

    Embryo Storage Lab Appeals No Coverage Ruling In Dispute Over Consumer Fraud Claims

    CHICAGO — An embryo storage lab said June 15 that it is appealing an Illinois federal court’s ruling that an underlying class action alleging that it engaged in false and deceptive advertising and failed to fully disclose the accuracy of preimplantation genetic testing does not trigger medical professional liability or commercial general liability coverage, challenging the court’s grant of the insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in its action seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify.

  • June 16, 2026

    Louisiana Anti-Arbitration Law Led To Circuit Split, Insurers Tell High Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of foreign and domestic insurers filed a petition for a writ of certiorari urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling they say created a circuit split by applying a Louisiana law barring arbitration of hurricane damage policy disputes to their equitable estoppel argument over the New York Convention and federal common law.

  • June 16, 2026

    Bad Faith Suit Stemming From Handling Of Collapse Claim Can Proceed, Panel Says

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Fourth District Florida Court of Appeal panel reversed a trial court’s dismissal of an insured’s bad faith suit stemming from a dispute over coverage for the collapse of a ceiling in the insured’s restaurant after determining that the action can proceed because the trial court misapplied the precedent on which it relied to dismiss the suit.

  • June 15, 2026

    CGL Insurer Asks 11th Circuit To Reconsider Appeal In Sex Trafficking Coverage Suit

    ATLANTA — A commercial general liability insurer asked the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 12 to reconsider its dismissal of its appeal of a lower federal court’s declaration that it has a duty to defend a hotel operator insured against an underlying sex trafficking lawsuit, challenging the appeals court’s ruling that it lacks jurisdiction to hear the appeal.

  • June 15, 2026

    11th Circuit: Insurer’s Motion To Intervene In Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Was Untimely

    ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed an insurer’s appeal challenging a lower federal court’s denial of its motion to intervene in a lawsuit alleging that its hotel owner insured violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), holding that the lower court did not abuse its discretion in determining that the insurer’s motion to intervene was untimely.

  • June 12, 2026

    4th Circuit: Disputed Claim Related To Earlier Claim Against Laboratory Insured

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of a defendant insurer in a plaintiff insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that it has no duty to defend or indemnify a laboratory against an underlying lawsuit alleging that it used improper collection and testing methods and reported false positive drug tests, holding that the underlying action is “related” to an earlier claim that triggers coverage under the plaintiff insurer’s professional liability insurance policy.

  • June 12, 2026

    11th Circuit Certifies Question To 2 State High Courts In Opioid Coverage Disputes

    ATLANTA — Ruling on two appeals challenging lower federal courts’ rulings in favor of insurers in coverage disputes arising from the opioid epidemic, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 11 certified a question asking the Georgia and Florida supreme courts to decide whether the insurance policies at issue require the insurers to defend and/or indemnify their insureds against the underlying opioid lawsuits.

  • June 11, 2026

    Tennessee Panel: Clothing Company Fails To Invoke Coverage In COVID-19 Suit

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee appeals court held that a lower court erred in holding that a custom clothing company and its subsidiaries’ properly invoked coverage under a commercial property insurance policy, holding that the governmental restrictions closing or limiting the insureds’ operations because of the coronavirus pandemic did not trigger the policy’s coverage requirement that direct physical loss of property needed to occur.

  • June 10, 2026

    Settlement Order Modified Between Maryland, Insurer, Ship Owner In Collapse Suit

    BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland on June 9 granted the state’s consent motion to modify a previous settlement order that dismissed without prejudice claims between Maryland, the insurer of the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) and the owner and technical manager of the ship M/V Dali, which allided with and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in 2024, extending the deadline for when the dismissal converts to a dismissal with prejudice in the exoneration lawsuit.

  • June 10, 2026

    Minnesota Panel Partly Reverses Ruling In Dog Bite Coverage Dispute

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota appeals court held that a lower court correctly determined that a homeowners insurance policy’s “resident-relative” exclusion did not bar coverage for a minor’s injuries arising from a dog bite but erred in ruling that the “history of biting” exclusion did not bar coverage, partly affirming and partly reversing the lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the injured child’s representative.

  • June 09, 2026

    5th Circuit: Insured’s Loss Falls Squarely Under Policy’s Deception Fraud Provision

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a federal court’s dismissal of an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking full crime coverage for its losses arising from $1,251,068.34 it paid to a fraudulent account, agreeing with the lower court that coverage is limited to the policy’s $100,000 Deception Fraud Provision.