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Mealey's Insurance

  • February 20, 2025

    Consolidation Bid Disputed In Case That Arose From Fronting Arrangement Deal

    NEW ORLEANS — Parties in a case arising from a fronting arrangement are disputing a motion to consolidate, with a managing general agent (MGA) arguing in a reply brief that the Louisiana federal court should focus on “the integrated nature of the transactions and agreements at issue” and that consolidation would “promote judicial economy.”

  • February 18, 2025

    Insured Permitted To Amend Complaint In Black Mold Coverage Suit

    ABERDEEEN, Miss. — A Mississippi federal judge granted an insured’s motion for leave to file an amended complaint against a homeowners insurer to clarify the date on which the insured was forced to move out of her home as a result of black mold growth because the date is necessary to clarify before a decision can be made as to whether the insured’s claims against the insurer are barred by the applicable statute of limitations.

  • February 18, 2025

    Oral Arguments Set In Dispute Over Applicability Of Radioactive Materials Exclusion

    CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments on April 10 in an insured’s appeal of a district court’s ruling that no coverage is owed by insurers pursuant to the policies’ radioactive materials exclusion for an underlying suit seeking damages for bodily injuries caused by exposure to electromagnetic (EMF) radiation from the insured’s electric transformers.

  • February 18, 2025

    Defective Workmanship Claims Do Not Constitute Occurrence, Excess Insurer Argues

    PHOENIX — An excess commercial insurer filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit in an Arizona federal court arguing that underlying defective workmanship allegations “standing alone do not constitute an ‘occurrence’” and repair of the purported defective workmanship or product fail to constitute “property damage” to trigger coverage, seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify its subcontractor insured and an underlying $6 million stipulated judgment cannot be enforced against it.

  • 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 13, 2025

    Breach Of Fiduciary Duty Claim Against Insurer Is Duplicative Of Bad Faith Claim

    SEATTLE — An insured’s claim for breach of fiduciary duty against a homeowners insurer must be dismissed because the claim is duplicative of the insured’s claim for breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, a Washington federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss the claim.

  • February 13, 2025

    Insurer’s Payment Forecloses Bad Faith Claims, Not TPPCA Claims, Panel Says

    NEW ORLEANS — A district court’s judgment in favor of an insurer on an insured’s claim for violation of the Texas Prompt Payment of Claims Act (TPPCA) must be vacated because the insurer is not absolved from liability under the TPPCA simply because it paid an appraisal award in full; however, the district court’s judgment in favor of the insurer on the insured’s bad faith claims must be affirmed because the insured’s payment of the appraisal award forecloses the insured’s bad faith claims, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said.

  • February 12, 2025

    Insurer Says No Coverage Owed To Flint, Mich., Hospital Over Water Crisis Claims

    DETROIT — An insurance company on Feb. 11 sued McLaren Health Care Corp. in Michigan federal court arguing that it has no duty to indemnify McLaren in connection with a $641 million settlement that was reached in the litigation over the lead-contaminated water claims in the city of Flint, Mich., where McLaren runs a hospital in which patients were injured during the Flint water crisis.  The insurer says it has no duty to indemnify McLaren and argues that it has “no liability of any kind” under the policy it issued.

  • 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

    No Additional Coverage Owed For Insured’s Lost Income Caused By Water Leaks

    PASADENA, Calif. — A district court did not err in confirming an appraisal award and in granting summary judgment in favor of an insurer because the insurer paid the insured more than the amount owed under the policy for lost income incurred as a result of a series of water leaks in the insured’s medical office building, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal said.

  • February 11, 2025

    Insurer Maintains No Coverage Owed For Remediation Costs

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — No coverage is owed for investigation and remediation costs as a result of contamination discovered at and near the site of an insured dry cleaning business because no suit has been filed against the insured and because the policy pollution exclusion bars coverage, an insurer says in its reply in support of its motion for summary judgment filed in New Mexico federal court.

  • February 11, 2025

    Insureds Failed To Show Additional Coverage Owed For Asbestos Removal, Judge Says

    DALLAS — Insureds seeking additional coverage for the removal of asbestos in their home failed to show that additional coverage is afforded under their homeowners policy for removal of asbestos that was not related to the insureds’ claim for water damage in their home, a Texas federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment on the insureds’ breach of contract and extracontractual claims.

  • February 07, 2025

    Jurisdiction Issue Triggers Amended Complaint In Row Involving Legionnaires’

    DETROIT — At the direction of a Michigan federal judge who said the initial pleading didn’t adequately show diversity of citizenship, a captive insurer filed an amended complaint over claims concerning Legionnaires’ disease, alleging breach of a reinsurance agreement and seeking declaratory judgment.

  • February 04, 2025

    Judge: Subcontractors’, Contractor’s Insurers Owe Defense In Gym Water Leak Suit

    LOS ANGELES — The “broad duty to defend” was triggered for both a contractor and two subcontractors in an underlying suit over damage from a water leak, a California federal judge found, leading her to partly grant the subcontractors’ motions to dismiss the commercial general liability (CGL) insurer’s suit seeking declarations that it was not obligated to provide coverage.

  • February 04, 2025

    Toxic Exposure, Contamination Suit Stayed To Allow Settlement Talks To Continue

    GREENBELT, Md. — A Maryland federal judge granted a joint motion to stay proceedings in an insured’s suit seeking coverage for underlying toxic exposure and environmental contamination lawsuits to allow the insured and its insurer to continue settlement negotiations.

  • February 04, 2025

    Competing Motions Filed In Asbestos Coverage Suit On Effect Of Noncumulation Clause

    PITTSBURGH — An insured maintains in a motion for partial summary judgment filed in Pennsylvania federal court that a noncumulation clause included in one of its excess insurer’s policies should not be enforced because the policy was changed to conform with an underlying umbrella policy; however, the excess insurer says in its motion for partial summary judgment that the noncumulation clause must be enforced to reduce the limit of liability under the policy and the amount owed to the insured for asbestos liabilities.

  • February 04, 2025

    Insurer Says Order Of Default Warranted Against Insureds In Debris Disposal Suit

    ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — An insurer filed a motion for default in Illinois federal court, maintaining that the court should enter an order of default against its insureds for failing to respond to the insurer’s second amended complaint, which seeks a declaration that its policy’s asbestos exclusion and pollution exclusion bar coverage for the alleged improper disposal of construction debris by the insured.

  • February 03, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Cross-Claims Between Insurers, Subcontractor In Mold Damage Coverage Suit

    LAS VEGAS — A federal judge in Nevada issued two orders dismissing with prejudice cross-claims between professional liability insurers and a subcontractor in a mold and moisture damage coverage dispute.

  • 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 28, 2025

    Reinsurer To 6th Circuit: Arbitration Awards Can Be Basis For Collateral Estoppel

    CINCINNATI — Arguing in part that “judicial review of arbitration awards is still available under the Federal Arbitration Act,” a reinsurer urged the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold a ruling that collateral estoppel applies to a defense costs dispute concerning asbestos lawsuits.

  • January 28, 2025

    Suit Seeking Coverage For Chemical Exposure Injuries Removed To Federal Court

    SEATTLE — An insurer acted in bad faith and breached its contract by withdrawing its defense of an insured in an underlying suit alleging that a couple’s exposure to chemicals distributed by the insured caused the couple’s child to be born with spina bifida, the insured says in a complaint removed by the insurer to Washington federal court.

  • January 28, 2025

    Insurers Owe Defense, Indemnity For Underlying PFAS, AFFF Suits, Insured Says

    SAN FRANCISCO — An insured maintains in its reply in support of its partial motion for summary judgment, filed in California federal court, that its insurers owe coverage for underlying bodily injury and property damage lawsuits related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) allegedly contained in aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) that were manufactured, sold and distributed by the insured because the underlying suits are potentially covered under the policies and the insurers failed to prove that their policies’ pollution exclusion bars coverage.

  • January 27, 2025

    J&J Wants 2nd Look At Ruling Nixing Insurance After $4.69B Talc Verdict

    NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — An insurer opposed Johnson & Johnson’s request for reconsideration after a judge in New Jersey concluded that subsequent victories in asbestos-talc cases do not alter the fact that a Missouri jury awarded $4.69 billion in a case against the company and found that it acted in a reprehensible manner, putting the verdict outside the terms of insurance policies because the state forbids insuring punitive damages and the policies cover only accidental injuries.

  • January 27, 2025

    Breach Of Contract, Bad Faith Claims In Asbestos Abatement Dispute Fail

    GREENBELT, Md. —  A Maryland federal magistrate judge granted a homeowners insurer’s motion for summary judgment on breach of contract and bad faith claims after determining that the insured failed to support her claims that the insurer breached its contract and acted in bad faith in its handling of the insured’s claim for asbestos abatement and a full roof replacement.

  • January 24, 2025

    6th Circuit Denies Building Owner, Contractor’s Rehearing Petitions In Collapse Suit

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied petitions for rehearing filed by a building owner and a contractor, refusing to reconsider a panel’s finding that coverage is owed only for a portion of a wall that collapsed in a building that was undergoing renovation.