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Mealey's Insurance

  • January 21, 2025

    Oral Arguments Set In Dispute Over Insured’s Knowledge Of Contamination

    ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a docket note on Jan. 17 setting oral arguments for March 7 of an insured’s appeal of a district court’s ruling that coverage is barred for contamination cleanup costs caused by the release of petroleum and other contaminants from an underground storage tank at a gas station.

  • January 21, 2025

    Condo Association Files Complaint, Says Hidden Damage Covered Under Policy

    SEATTLE — A property insurer breached its contract and acted in bad faith when it denied a condominium association’s claim for hidden water damage because the hidden damage was caused by a covered cause of loss and is not excluded under the policies at issue, an insured contends in a complaint filed in Washington federal court.

  • January 17, 2025

    Declaratory Judgment Suit Focuses On Reinsurance, Legionnaires’ Disease Claims

    DETROIT — Alleging breach of a reinsurance agreement and seeking declaratory judgment, a captive insurer filed a lawsuit in Michigan federal court over claims concerning Legionnaires’ disease.

  • January 16, 2025

    Shipbuilder Creditor Appeals Asbestos Debtor’s Insurer Settlement Protections

    RICHMOND, Va. — Shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc., a frequent co-defendant of Chapter 11 debtor Hopeman Brothers Inc. in asbestos cases, has appealed a Virginia federal bankruptcy judge’s approval of an $18 million settlement between the debtor and insurers, saying in its statement of issues on appeal that a U.S. district court must decide whether the approval order’s inclusion of a “nonconsensual third party release and non-debtor discharge and corresponding injunction” amounts to reversable error.

  • January 14, 2025

    Insureds Say Pollution Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage For Remediation Costs

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A pollution exclusion does not bar coverage for investigation and remediation costs incurred by insureds as a result of contamination discovered at and near the site of an insured dry cleaning business because the pollution exclusion is ambiguous and must be construed in favor of coverage, the insureds maintain in response to an insurer’s motion for summary judgment filed in New Mexico federal court.

  • January 14, 2025

    Judge Refuses To Reconsider Ruling On Request To Transfer Silica Coverage Suit

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied an insurer’s motion to reconsider a ruling on the denial of the insurer’s request to transfer an insured’s suit seeking coverage for underlying bodily injury suits arising out of silica dust exposure to Minnesota federal court because the insurer failed to show that there are new issues of material fact that were not previously considered by the court.

  • January 14, 2025

    Pollution Exclusion Exception Must Be Construed In Favor Of Coverage, Panel Says

    PHILADELPHIA — A district court did not err in finding that a retained coverage limits exception to a pollution exclusion is ambiguous and must be construed in favor of coverage for the insured for underlying water contamination lawsuits, a panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said.

  • January 14, 2025

    Insured’s Suit Seeking Coverage For Debris Cleanup Costs Transferred To Michigan

    CINCINNATI — An Ohio federal judge granted an insurer’s motion to transfer an insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for the costs of cleaning demolition debris that polluted the Ohio River to Michigan federal court because the insurance policy was issued in Michigan and because the insured is based in Michigan.

  • January 10, 2025

    Facing Insurer’s Opposition, Talc Supplier Seeks Extensions Of Exclusive Periods

    TRENTON, N.J. — Raw materials supplier and Chapter 11 debtor Presperse Corp. asked a New Jersey federal bankruptcy court to give it more time to file an amended plan of reorganization after the company’s lone insurer objected to the plan’s disclosure statement and disputed insurance coverage for asbestos personal injury claims.

  • January 10, 2025

    Hospital, Insurer Announce Settlement Of Coronavirus Coverage Suit In Federal Court

    BOSTON — A hospital insured and its commercial property insurer tell a Massachusetts federal court in a Jan. 9 joint motion that they have reached a settlement in principle of the insured’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic.

  • January 09, 2025

    N.Y. Appeals Court Reinstates Complaint Against 1 Insurer In COVID-19 Coverage Suit

    NEW YORK — A New York appeals court concluded that Bowlero Corp. has stated a cause of action against one of its insurers because its complaint sufficiently asserts that a policy’s special time element coverage extension was triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the additional pathogenic materials policy exclusion does not apply, unanimously modifying the lower court’s ruling, reinstating the insured’s complaint against the one insurer and affirming the remainder of the lower court’s decision.

  • January 08, 2025

    5th Circuit Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Suit Prompted By Winter Freeze

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 7 affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of a homeowners insurer in a breach of contract lawsuit arising from property damage caused by a winter freeze, finding that the property did not comport with the insurance policy's coverage requirements because it is undisputed that the plaintiff did not reside on the property at the policy’s inception.

  • January 07, 2025

    Panel Vacates, Remands Ruling On Contamination Damages Incurred By Insured

    ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated and remanded a district court’s ruling in favor of a pollution liability insurer on the issue of damages incurred by an insured for environmental contamination investigation and remediation costs because the lower court erred in determining that the insured’s claim for past damages was not ripe for adjudication.

  • January 07, 2025

    Suit Seeking Coverage For AFFF Claims Dismissed In Favor Of First-Filed Suit

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — An insured’s suit seeking coverage from three of its insurers for underlying lawsuits related to the insured’s manufacture, sale and distribution of aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) must be dismissed in favor of a similar suit filed by the insured in California because the California suit was filed prior to the insured’s South Carolina federal court suit, a South Carolina federal judge said in granting a motion to dismiss by the insurers.

  • January 07, 2025

    Building Owner, Contractor Say Rehearing En Banc Is Warranted In Collapse Suit

    CINCINNATI — A building owner and a contractor filed petitions for rehearing en banc in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, contending that rehearing en banc is warranted because the panel’s finding that coverage is owed only for a portion of a wall that collapsed in a building that was undergoing renovation is inconsistent with a prior Sixth Circuit opinion and other prevailing case law within the Sixth Circuit.

  • January 07, 2025

    Insurers Owe Coverage For Environmental Remediation Costs, Insureds Say

    LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Coverage is owed for environmental contamination remediation costs related to the release of a waste byproduct from a gas pipeline, insureds say in a breach of contract and bad faith complaint filed in New Mexico federal court against three of its environmental liability insurers.

  • January 06, 2025

    Homeowners Insurer Did Not Breach Contract, Act In Bad Faith, Judge Says

    HOUSTON — A Texas federal judge granted a homeowners insurer’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the insureds’ breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit after determining that the insureds failed to show that the insurer breached its contract in refusing to pay additional coverage for water damage allegedly sustained to the insureds’ home during a wind and hail storm.

  • January 06, 2025

    Wisconsin Majority: Exception To Construction Defect Exclusion Reinstates Coverage

    WAUKESHA, Wis. — A majority of a Wisconsin appeals court reversed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a homeowners insurer in its lawsuit challenging coverage for its insureds’ rain damage, finding that the ensuing cause of loss exception to the insurance policy’s Construction Defect Exclusion reinstates coverage and an additional coverage endorsement renders the policy’s Fungi Exclusion inapplicable.

  • December 16, 2024

    N.C. Supreme Court: Retailer’s COVID-19 Loss Excluded By Policy As Contamination

    RALEIGH, N.C. — Ruling that a contamination exclusion in a clothing retailer insured’s “all-risk” commercial insurance policy excluded the insured’s claimed losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the North Carolina Supreme Court on Dec. 13 — while disagreeing with its reasoning — affirmed the judgment of a state appellate court, which in turn affirmed a trial court’s dismissal of the insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage under the policy for its losses.

  • December 16, 2024

    Payment To Lead Abatement Fund Is Not Damages, Ohio Supreme Court Says

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio appellate court erred in determining that an insured’s obligation to contribute to a lead paint abatement fund constitutes damages under insurance policies because the payment to the abatement fund was ordered to prevent future harm to children’s health from lead paint and does not constitute damages under insurance policies, the Ohio Supreme Court said in reversing the appellate court’s ruling and reinstating a trial court’s ruling.

  • December 12, 2024

    Lower Court Properly Found Coverage Is Not Owed For Entire Building, Panel Says

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 11 affirmed a district court’s ruling that coverage is only owed for a portion of a wall that collapsed in a building that was undergoing renovation, agreeing with the lower court’s finding that a partial collapse is not the same as a collapse as defined in the policy issued to a building owner and contractor.

  • December 12, 2024

    Washington Federal Judge Refuses To Enter Summary Judgment On Bad Faith Claim

    SEATTLE — An insured condominium association is not entitled to summary judgment on a bad faith claim in a dispute over coverage for hidden water damage, a Washington federal judge said after determining that questions of fact exist on the issue of when the insured discovered the damage.

  • December 12, 2024

    Insurer Seeks Summary Judgment Argument In Asbestos Coverage Row

    OMAHA, Neb. — National Indemnity Co. (NICO) has moved in Nebraska federal court for oral argument on pending motions for partial summary judgment in its suit to enforce obligations by defendants it calls reinsurers — one of whom is now insolvent — for liability NICO incurred related to claims for asbestos exposure.

  • December 11, 2024

    2nd Circuit Sets Argument In Reinsurers’ Post-Trial Appeal Of Oil Seizure Row

    NEW YORK — Oral argument has been calendared for Jan. 24 in a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case filed by reinsurers that were ordered to pay CITGO Petroleum Corp. more than $72.5 million in a suit stemming from the February 2020 seizure of crude oil at a Venezuelan port and involving a marine cargo reinsurance policy and what constitutes an “insurrection.”

  • December 10, 2024

    Insurers Settle Claims In Environmental Contamination Coverage Suit

    GREEN BAY, Wis. — A Wisconsin federal judge noted in a Dec. 9 minute entry that the insurers involved in an environmental contamination coverage suit have settled the remaining coverage disputes at issue in a suit filed by an insured seeking coverage past and future environmental investigation and remediation costs.