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Mealey's Emerging Insurance Disputes

  • December 03, 2025

    Judge Grants Arbitration, Stays Wiretap Class Action Against Toyota, Progressive

    SHERMAN, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on Dec. 2 granted Toyota Motor North America Inc.’s motion to compel arbitration and stay a class action alleging that Toyota, Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. and a provider of data analytics services in the automotive industry violated the Federal Wiretap Act and are responsible for injuries they inflicted on tens of thousands of class members because of their unauthorized collection and dissemination of private information from Toyota vehicles.

  • December 03, 2025

    Insurance Department’s Confirmation Of Excess Loss Payments Assessment Affirmed

    AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas appeals panel affirmed the state insurance department’s order confirming the assessment of excess loss payments that a member insurer must pay the state’s insurer of last resort for Hurricane Harvey damage, rejecting the member insurer’s argument that the members’ percentage of participation should be the catastrophe year and not the year of assessment.

  • December 03, 2025

    School Board: Each Shot Fired Constitutes Separate Occurrence Under Policy

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A school board insured sued its general liability insurer for breach of contract in a Florida court seeking $17,411,192 in coverage for its defense and settlement of multiple underlying actions arising from the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people, alleging that each shot fired constituted a separate occurrence under the policy.

  • December 03, 2025

    Federal Judge: Insurer Has Duty To Defend Sexual Abuse Suit Against Fencing Coach

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Ruling on dueling motions for summary judgment, a federal judge in Tennessee held that a negligence claim in an underlying sexual abuse lawsuit against a fencing coach “gives rise as a matter of law” to an insurer’s duty to defend its insureds against all claims in the underlying action.

  • December 03, 2025

    Financial Interest Exclusion Bars Professional Liability Coverage For Fraud Suits

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted a professional liability insurer’s motion for summary judgment in its lawsuit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend and indemnify its insured and real estate agents in underlying fraud lawsuits, holding that the financial interest exclusion bars coverage for all 13 underlying actions.

  • December 02, 2025

    Judge: No Professional Liability Coverage Owed For Untimely Claim Against Attorney

    EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A federal judge in Illinois granted a lawyers professional liability insurer’s motion for summary judgment in its declaratory judgment lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying lawsuit seeking $753,611.59 against its attorney insured, ruling that the underlying claim was untimely and the policy’s Automatic Extended Reporting Period and Optional Extended Reporting Period provide no refuge.

  • December 02, 2025

    Employers Liability Exclusion Bars Coverage, 11th Circuit Rules In Reversal

    ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals determined that a general liability insurance policy’s employers liability exclusion barred coverage for injuries suffered by a convenience store employee who was shot while leaving work, reversing a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling against an insurer and remanding for further proceedings.

  • December 02, 2025

    Medical Malpractice Claimants Lack Standing To Sue Insurer, Connecticut Judge Rules

    HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut judge granted a professional liability insurer’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit seeking a declaration as to coverage for an underlying medical malpractice action, holding that the plaintiffs have failed to establish a justiciable right and, as a result, lack standing to sue the insurer for declaratory judgment.

  • December 01, 2025

    Illinois Panel: No Extra Expense Coverage Owed For Loss Arising From Cyberattack

    CHICAGO — An Illinois appeals court panel held that a management company for multiple nursing care facilities is not entitled to recover the expenses it incurred following a cyberattack on one of its payroll vendors, affirming a lower court’s ruling in favor of an insurer in the management company’s declaratory judgment lawsuit.

  • November 21, 2025

    COMMENTARY: Testing The Boundaries Of Product Liability For AI Products: How To Hold An Insurance Company Liable For AI Errors

    By Jamie O’Neill and Abigail Damsky

  • November 24, 2025

    Federal Judge Dismisses Cybercrime Coverage Suit After Parties Reach Settlement

    SEATTLE — Following a settlement that was announced in October, a federal judge in Washington dismissed with prejudice a law firm insured’s lawsuit seeking commercial cyber insurance coverage for a breach of the firm’s security measures.

  • November 21, 2025

    1st Circuit Rejects Insurer’s Appeal In Health Data Breach Dispute

    BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 20 affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of a cybersecurity company in a lawsuit arising from a 2018 health data breach, rejecting an insurer’s argument that the lower court erred in denying it equitable indemnification from the cybersecurity company.

  • November 20, 2025

    Judge Dismisses 1 Claim In Insurer’s Coverage Suit Over Consumer Fraud Action

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois on Nov. 19 granted in part and denied in part an embryo storage lab’s motion to dismiss its professional liability insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that it has no duty to defend or indemnify the lab for an underlying class action alleging that the insured engaged in false and deceptive advertising and failed to fully disclose the accuracy of preimplantation genetic testing, dismissing one of the insurer’s declaratory judgment counts for failure to state a claim.

  • November 19, 2025

    Panel: No Indemnification Owed For Negligence Suit Over Sexual Abuse Of Patients

    FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Kentucky appeals court panel affirmed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of a liability insurer in its lawsuit disputing indemnity coverage for underlying negligent retention and negligent supervision claims that were brought against its insured, holding that the appellants failed to demonstrate that coverage was triggered by an “occurrence” under the policy and that the policy's “expected or intended” exclusion precluded coverage.

  • November 19, 2025

    Panel: Assault And Battery Exclusion Bars Coverage For Battery, Negligence Claims

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — A Louisiana appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a bar’s insurer in a lawsuit brought by a patron who was hit in the head by a bottle that bounced off another patron at the insured’s premises, holding that the policy’s unambiguous assault and battery exclusion bars coverage for the patron’s battery and negligence claims.

  • November 18, 2025

    Amicus Supports NRA’s Certiorari Petition In Free Speech Suit Over Insurance Program

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amicus curiae Consumers’ Research on Nov. 18 filed a brief in support of The National Rifle Association of America (NRA)’s petition seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals holding that a former superintendent of the New York department that regulates insurance is entitled to qualified immunity on the NRA’s First Amendment coercion and retaliation claims against New York state officials and the department, arguing that “the increasing use of government threats and pressure to indirectly regulate puts constitutional rights at risk, especially the rights of individual consumers.”

  • November 18, 2025

    Contamination Exclusion Bars Coverage For COVID-19 Losses, 9th Circuit Affirms

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 17 affirmed a district court’s ruling that an all-risk policy’s contamination exclusion bars coverage for losses sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic, rejecting the insureds’ argument that the district court erred in finding that a California appellate panel’s ruling in a similar case is applicable to the instant dispute.

  • November 18, 2025

    Stipulation Filed To Dismiss 1 Insurer From Coronavirus Coverage Suit In Nevada

    LAS VEGAS — A stipulation was filed asking a Nevada court to dismiss with prejudice all claims against one insurer in an insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage under its all-risk insurance policies for its loss caused by COVID-19 and its causative virus at its insured properties.

  • November 17, 2025

    COMMENTARY: The Notice-Prejudice Rule In Hybrid Occurrence - Claims-Made Policies

    By Robert M. Hall

  • November 17, 2025

    Insured Seeks Rehearing In Unjust Enrichment, UCL Suit Against Travel Insurers

    PASEDENA, Calif. — An insured on Nov. 14 filed a petition for rehearing en banc asking the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider a panel majority ruling that affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of travel insurers in his unjust enrichment and unfair competition lawsuit, challenging the majority’s finding that he is not entitled to recover any portion of the premium for a travel insurance policy he purchased for a cruise that was later canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic because there was no unearned premium.

  • November 17, 2025

    Judge Tosses D&O Coverage Dispute Arising From Securities Fraud Suit Against Insured

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Three days after parties filed a joint stipulation of dismissal without prejudice, a federal judge in Delaware on Nov. 14 dismissed a corporation insured’s lawsuit alleging breach of contract and seeking a declaration that a directors and officers liability insurer must promptly reimburse it for the costs it incurred in defending an underlying securities fraud lawsuit brought by shareholders.

  • November 17, 2025

    Embryo Storage Lab Asks Federal Court To Dismiss Consumer Fraud Coverage Suit

    CHICAGO — An embryo storage lab moved to dismiss its professional liability insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that it has no duty to defend or indemnify the lab for an underlying class action alleging that the insured engaged in false and deceptive advertising and failed to fully disclose the accuracy of preimplantation genetic testing, asserting that the insurer’s indemnification claims are not ripe.

  • November 14, 2025

    4th Circuit Stands By Reversal Of Class Certification In Suit Against Auto Insurer

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied an insured’s petition for rehearing en banc of a split panel’s ruling that a lower federal court abused its discretion in certifying a class in a lawsuit alleging that an insurer improperly decreased the compensation for totaled vehicles, standing by the panel’s holding that common questions do not predominate because the claims are “essentially individualized claims requiring mini trials as to each.”

  • November 14, 2025

    Judge Confirms $10.9M Award Against German Insurer In Favor Of Singaporean Company

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on Nov. 13 confirmed an arbitral award that, with interest, is worth more than $11 million in favor of a Singaporean company for a dispute over directors and officers (D&O) coverage allegedly owed by its German excess insurer, which had unsuccessfully moved to vacate the award.

  • November 13, 2025

    Insurers’ Objections To Discovery Orders Substantially Overruled In COVID-19 Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York substantially overruled insurers’ objections to discovery orders that granted in part and denied in part a holding company for the U.S. interests in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group’s motion to compel the insurers to produce certain documents they have withheld as privileged in a coronavirus coverage dispute.