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Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

  • March 27, 2025

    Policy Owners Ask Connecticut Court To Affirm Setoff Rights In Rehabilitation Row

    HARTFORD, Conn. — Asset managers holding matured insurance policies filed a memorandum requesting that a Connecticut state court affirm that policy owners may apply unpaid death benefit claims as setoffs against ongoing premium obligations during a life insurer’s rehabilitation, arguing that such rights are mandated under state and common law; in a response filed two weeks later, the rehabilitator argues that that stance is “meritless.”

  • March 26, 2025

    Ex-NFL Player To 5th Circuit: Dismiss Fee Award Appeal In Disability Benefits Row

    NEW ORLEANS — Arguing in part that “[i]t would be patently unfair to reverse [his] benefits award while citing his failures to properly appeal and then excuse the Plan’s own failures to properly appeal the Fee Award,” a former National Football League player filed a motion asking the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to dismiss the plan’s appeal of an award of more than $1.25 million in attorney fees and costs.

  • March 25, 2025

    Fungi Exclusion Bars Coverage For Underlying Failure-To-Disclose Suit, Insurer Says

    ST. LOUIS — No coverage is owed to an insured for an underlying suit filed by the buyer of the insured’s home, who alleges that the insured failed to disclose the presence of mold in the home prior to the sale, because the insured’s homeowners policy excludes coverage for fungi and bacteria and because the policy was terminated prior to the filing of the underlying suit, a homeowners insurer says in a complaint filed in Missouri federal court.

  • March 20, 2025

    Insurer To 4th Circuit: Overturn Ruling In Long Covid Disability Benefits Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — Arguing that the lower court improperly applied de novo review and wrongly concluded that the claimant showed that she is disabled from working as an engineer because of long COVID symptoms, an insurer urged the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a judgment that the claimant is owed past-due long-term disability (LTD) benefits.

  • March 19, 2025

    Insurer Says Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage For Carbon Monoxide Injury Suits

    DETROIT — No coverage is owed for underlying suits seeking damages for bodily injuries incurred as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning stemming from a malfunctioning pool heater at an insured’s hotel because the excess policy’s pollution exclusion bars coverage for the underlying suits, an excess insurer says in a complaint filed in Michigan federal court.

  • March 18, 2025

    Insurer Opposes Catholic Diocese’s Motion To File Amicus Brief In Contamination Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — An insurer on March 17 filed an opposition to a California Catholic diocese’s motion for leave to file an amicus curiae brief in an insured’s appeal in a groundwater contamination coverage suit, telling the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the diocese should not be granted leave to file an amicus brief because the diocese’s arguments are not relevant to the contamination coverage dispute at issue.

  • March 18, 2025

    Oral Argument Sought In Challenge To Rehab Plan For Workers’ Comp Insurer

    SAN FRANCISCO — Both parties have requested oral argument in the First District California Court of Appeal in a workers’ compensation insurance carrier’s challenge to a nonconsensual rehabilitation plan that was approved as part of conservation proceedings brought by California’s insurance regulator and includes resolution of dozens of reinsurance participation agreement (RPA) lawsuits.

  • March 18, 2025

    Insurer Seeks Take-Nothing Judgment After Jury Awards Insured $39.9M In Storm Suit

    TYLER, Texas — A commercial property insurer moved for full judgment as a matter of law and alternatively a new trial after a jury in a Texas federal court unanimously awarded its insured $4,838,747 in damages for its breach of contract and $35 million in exemplary damages for its breach of the 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.

  • March 17, 2025

    6th Circuit Asked To Rehear No Coverage Ruling In Professional Liability Dispute

    CINCINNATI — An appellant filed a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc asking the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its finding that her declaratory judgment and bad faith claims fail because she did not provide a professional liability insurer with “all reasonably obtainable information” about her potential negligence claim against a dentist insured, arguing that the panel opinion misapplied insurance law, failed to hold the insurer accountable “for its shifting justifications” and created “an insurmountable burden for third parties attempting to report claims.”

  • March 17, 2025

    Dismissal Bids Fought In Row Over Vesttoo-Linked Letters Of Credit

    NEW YORK — In four motions that have drawn opposition, China Construction Bank Corp. (CCBC) and related defendants seek dismissal of claims that stem from the alleged fraud underlying the collapse of nonparty Vesttoo Ltd., arguing primarily that the New York federal court lacks jurisdiction and the claims are not sufficiently stated.

  • March 14, 2025

    New York Alleges Insurers Violated State Data Breach Notification Laws

    NEW YORK — The people of New York sued insurers in a New York court alleging that they violated state data breach notification laws by failing to alert impacted New Yorkers or state agencies of a data breach in which drivers’ license numbers of close to 200,000 consumers were exposed to attackers.

  • March 11, 2025

    Insured Says Reimbursement Owed For Underlying Water Contamination Complaints

    LOS ANGELES — An insured company filed suit in California federal court against its general liability insurer, claiming that the insurer’s refusal to defend it or reimburse it for costs incurred in defending itself against two water contamination suits was a breach of contract and a breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

  • March 10, 2025

    Insurer Disputes Coverage For Suit Alleging Insureds Mispresented Cannabis Product

    ROCKFOD, Ill. — A commercial general liability insurer asks an Illinois federal court to declare that it has no duty to defend or indemnify for an underlying putative class lawsuit alleging its insureds knowingly and/or recklessly misrepresented and advertised their product as cannabis concentrates and knowingly and/or recklessly misclassified their products in order to avoid regulations.

  • March 06, 2025

    Baylor College Of Medicine Seeks Texas High Court Review Of COVID-19 Coverage Suit

    AUSTIN, Texas — Baylor College of Medicine filed a petition in the Texas Supreme Court seeking review of an appeals court’s conclusion that the presence of the COVID-19 virus at its premises did not cause “direct physical loss of or damage to” to its property, challenging the appeals court’s reversal of a lower court’s judgment following a jury verdict in the school’s favor.

  • March 06, 2025

    Disability Insurer Says Judgment Was Proper; Claimant Is Capable Of Sedentary Work

    ATLANTA — A district court’s judgment in favor of a disability insurer was correct because the evidence supports the lower court’s finding that the disability claimant is not disabled from performing the duties of any occupation and is capable of performing sedentary work, the insurer contends in an appellee brief filed in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • March 06, 2025

    Reinsurance Pool Manager Accused Of Illegal $1B Transfer In Reorganization Scheme

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A member of a captive insurance and reinsurance pool alleges in a complaint filed in a Delaware state court that the pool manager and others engaged in an illegal reorganization that transferred policies from its "A" rated pool with more than $1 billion in assets to a new, unrated insurer with limited capitalization and only $170 million in reinsurance limits.

  • March 05, 2025

    Lower Court Properly Found Disability Claimant Failed To Meet Burden, Insurer Says

    CHICAGO — A district court properly found that a disability claimant failed to satisfy her burden of proving that she remained disabled from working in a sedentary occupation as a result of symptoms related to fibromyalgia, a disability insurer says in an appellee brief filed in the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • March 04, 2025

    Parties Seek Dismissal Of Data Breach Coverage Suit Following Settlement

    SEATTLE — A media tech insurer and its financial services firm insured filed a joint stipulation asking a Washington federal court to dismiss with prejudice the insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify the insured for a bank’s indemnification demand for a data breach incident and a related subrogation lawsuit brought by the bank’s insurer.

  • March 04, 2025

    Furniture Delivery Company Asks 9th Circuit To Rehear UCL Coverage Dispute

    PASADENA, Calif. — A furniture delivery company insured has asked the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its ruling that an insurer has no duty to defend it against an underlying misappropriation of trade secrets and unfair competition lawsuit brought by a competitor, challenging the appeal court’s affirmation of a lower federal court’s grant of the insurer’s motion for summary judgment in its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit.

  • March 04, 2025

    Silica Exposure Lawsuits Involve More Than 1 Occurrence, Insured Says In Complaint

    NEW YORK — A commercial general liability insurer breached its contract and acted in bad faith by determining that more than 100 underlying silica exposure lawsuits filed against the insured are subject to coverage under only one insurance policy and involve only a single occurrence under the policy, an insured alleges in a complaint filed in New York federal court.

  • March 03, 2025

    Parties Brief Summary Judgment Bids In Indemnification Dispute Involving Deals

    BOSTON — Competing summary judgment motions have been filed in an indemnification dispute, with the plaintiff telling a Massachusetts federal court that it is entitled to damages of at least $75.7 million plus interest and fees under the plain language of a stock purchase agreement (SPA) and reinsurance agreement, and the defendant contending that agreements executed in a  later “clean shell” deal constituted a novation of any obligations and that the plaintiff’s conduct since 2013 “is not how an insurer acts with respect to a company that it truly believes is providing it with reinsurance coverage.”

  • March 03, 2025

    Homeowner Amends Complaint Against Insurer In Black Mold Coverage Suit

    ABERDEEN, Miss. — Consistent with a Mississippi federal judge’s order, an insured homeowner filed an amended complaint against her homeowners insurer, clarifying the date on which the insured was forced to move out of her home as a result of black mold growth.

  • February 28, 2025

    Insurer: No Coverage Owed For Suit Arising From Blockade In Support of Palestine

    NEW YORK — A commercial general liability and directors and officers liability insurer filed a lawsuit in a New York federal court seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify against an underlying lawsuit alleging that its insured was instrumental in coordinating an April 15 blockade as part of an international campaign to disrupt the off-ramp leading into Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in support of the liberation of Palestine.

  • February 26, 2025

    Stay Of Mandate Pending Planned Petition Sought In Disability Benefits Suit

    NEW ORLEANS — Saying they plan to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to grant certiorari in the case where a panel entered an unpublished opinion in favor of a disability insurer, a disability claimant and her husband moved in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to stay a mandate that would otherwise soon follow denial of their request for rehearing.

  • February 25, 2025

    Insurer Answers Counterclaim In Suit Over Misrepresentation About Auto Body Shop

    MINNEAPOLIS — A commercial general liability insurer filed an answer to its insureds’ counterclaim in a fire coverage dispute over whether the insurer is entitled to rescind the policy for the insureds’ purported misrepresentation for failure to disclose that an auto body shop operated on their premises.