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Mealey's Insurance Bad Faith

  • February 20, 2025

    Rhode Island High Court Says Judgment Properly Entered For Homeowners Insurer

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A lower court properly entered summary judgment in favor of a homeowners insurer because the insureds’ assignee failed to offer sufficient evidence showing that the insurer’s handling of its insureds’ storm damage claim constituted a breach of contract or bad faith, the Rhode Island Supreme Court said in affirming the lower court’s ruling.

  • February 18, 2025

    Federal Judge Dismisses Subcontractor’s Suit Against Insurer After Parties Settle

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California dismissed with prejudice a subcontractor insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit against its commercial liability insurer one day after the parties indicated that they have executed their settlement agreement.

  • 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

    10th Circuit Rejects Condo Developer’s Petion For Panel Rehearing

    DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a condominium developer’s petition seeking a panel rehearing of the court’s grant of a new trial following its reversal of a $2.54 million jury award in favor of the developer after finding that the developer cannot recover under a builders risk insurance policy for repair costs of a cracked concrete slab that it has not paid and has no obligation to pay.

  • 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 14, 2025

    Reconsideration Of Order On Extracontractual Claims Is Warranted, Insurer Says

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge should reconsider a decision that found that the insureds’ extracontractual claims are timely because the extracontractual claims are moot based on the insurer’s payment of an appraisal award, a homeowners insurer maintains in a motion for reconsideration.

  • 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 13, 2025

    Suit Tossed For No Jurisdiction Absent Evidence Of Website Targeting Residents

    JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi federal judge dismissed a breach of contract and bad faith suit against an international travel insurer and its purported agent over the insurer’s failure to reimburse medical expenses, finding that because the insured failed to provide evidence showing that the insurer’s website was designed to specifically target Mississippi residents, the court lacks personal jurisdiction over the insurer.

  • February 13, 2025

    Negligent Misrepresentation Claim Cannot Proceed Against Insurance Agency

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge granted an insurance agency’s motion to dismiss a negligent misrepresentation claim in a breach of contract and bad faith suit arising out of the denial of a fire damage claim because the insureds failed to provide any specific information regarding the agent who allegedly made a misrepresentation and failed to provide any details regarding the insureds’ interaction with the agent.

  • February 12, 2025

    Partial Dismissal Granted In Hail Damage Coverage Row Over Roof Tile Replacement

    DENVER — A Colorado federal judge on Feb. 11 granted in part homeowners’ motion to dismiss a misrepresentation counterclaim in a breach of contract suit against their homeowners insurer over the cost to repair their hail-damaged roof, finding that though the counterclaim failed to allege knowing misrepresentation, the homeowners failed to provide any argument to support their request for dismissal with prejudice.

  • February 12, 2025

    Panel Reverses Attorney Fees Award In Octogenarian’s Bad Faith Suit Over Hail Damage

    FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas appeals panel reversed and remanded a trial court’s award of appellate attorney fees in favor of an octogenarian insured in her bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for her roof damage caused by hail and wind and affirmed the remainder of the lower court’s judgment, finding that the evidence was sufficiently strong to support the jury's conclusion that the insurer knowingly took advantage of the insured’s “‘lack of knowledge, ability, experience, or capacity . . . to a grossly unfair degree.’”

  • February 11, 2025

    Reinsurer Voluntarily Dismisses Suit Concerning Alleged Claims Mishandling

    BILLINGS, Mont. — A Bermuda-based reinsurer that sought declaratory judgment and damages for claims that it alleged were mishandled and misallocated has filed a notice of dismissal without prejudice in Montana federal court regarding its suit against an insurer and third-party administrator (TPA).

  • 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

    5th Circuit Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Bad Faith Suit Over Wind Damage

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 6 held that a lower federal court properly granted summary judgment in favor of a homeowners insurer as to the insured’s extracontractual bad faith claims in a wind damage coverage dispute, finding that the insured is barred him from recovering any additional damages from the insurer under Texas Supreme Court precedent.

  • February 07, 2025

    Federal Jury Awards Insured $39.9M In Damages In Hailstorm Coverage Dispute

    TYLER, Texas — A jury in a Texas federal court unanimously awarded an insured $4,838,747 in damages for its commercial property insurer’s breach of contract and $35 million in exemplary damages for the insurer’s breach of its duty of good faith and fair dealing in a coverage dispute arising from property damage that was caused by an April 12, 2020, wind and hailstorm.

  • 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

    Partial Dismissal Of Counterclaims Granted In $3.3M Health Care Fraud Dispute

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Alaska federal judge on Feb. 5 granted in part a motion to dismiss counterclaims in a fraud suit filed by an Alaska health insurer against a California treatment facility alleging approximately $3.3 million of fraudulent claims related to the facility purportedly falsifying income of prospective patients when enrolling them in the health insurer’s plan, finding that the bad faith counterclaims should be dismissed as not adequately pleaded and that there is no private right of action pursuant to an Alaska statute.

  • February 05, 2025

    Reinsurer Wins Dismissal Of $844M Suit To Enforce Consent Judgments

    MIAMI — A reinsurer won dismissal with prejudice of a case that sought to enforce approximately $844 million in consent judgments entered against an airline in connection with a 2016 plane crash, with a Florida judge ruling in part that “Florida law narrowly restricts the circumstances in which an insured can ever directly pursue claims against a reinsurer to facts that are not alleged here.”

  • February 04, 2025

    Home Depot Asks 6th Circuit To Rehear No Coverage Ruling In Data Breach Dispute

    CINCINNATI — Home Depot filed a petition in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals 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 04, 2025

    Panel: Homeowners Insurer Not Independently Liable For Alleged Dangerous Property

    FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Kentucky appeals court panel held that under the terms of a homeowners insurance policy, the insurer is not independently liable for the purportedly dangerous condition of an insured’s property, affirming a lower court’s dismissal of a bad faith lawsuit seeking $300,000 in personal liability coverage for an injury that occurred at the insured property.