Mealey's Insurance Pleadings : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

August 03, 2023
Parties Make Summary Judgment Arguments In Defense Costs Row Involving Reinsurer

DETROIT — In competing Aug. 2 summary judgment motions in Michigan federal court in a dispute over defense costs, the parties urged different interpretations of the umbrella policies the reinsurance liability follows and the reinsurer argued that collateral and judicial estoppel apply.
August 02, 2023
Insured Responds To Insurer’s High Court Appeal Of Marine Coverage Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing that a maritime insurer relies on “irrelevant dicta in old maritime cases that say nothing about the enforceability of choice-of-law provisions dictating that a particular state’s law will apply,” an insured asks the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the insurer’s petition for writ of certiorari that was limited to the question: “Under federal admiralty law, can a choice of law clause in a maritime contract be rendered unenforceable if enforcement is contrary to the ‘strong public policy’ of the state whose law is displaced?”
August 01, 2023
Summary Judgment On False Claims Act Counts Disputed In Crop Insurance Case

YAKIMA, Wash. — Opposing the government’s bid for summary judgment on counts asserted under the False Claims Act (FCA), a farmer argues in Washington federal court that the crop insurance row “stems from an essential misunderstanding of facts by the Plaintiff and conflation of various entities with” his “personal involvement.”
August 01, 2023
Insured Seeks 11th Circuit Panel Rehearing In Water Damage Suit

ATLANTA — An insured says panel rehearing of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision affirming a district court’s ruling in favor of a commercial liability insurer in a water damage coverage dispute is warranted because the 11th Circuit panel did not properly interpret a policy’s water exclusion.
July 31, 2023
Insurer Files Complaint, Says No Coverage Owed For Underlying Lead Poisoning Suit

DETROIT — No coverage is owed to insureds for an underlying bodily injury suit arising out of lead paint exposure because the commercial general liability policy’s lead and hazardous properties exclusion bars coverage, the insurer asserts in a complaint filed in Michigan federal court.
July 28, 2023
Summary Judgment Issues In Quota Share Reinsurance Row Include Notice, Prejudice

DALLAS — Parties in a breach suit over a first-dollar quota share reinsurance contract have completed briefing on competing summary judgment motions in Texas federal court, arguing issues including whether the notice provision imposes an objective or subjective standard and whether the reinsurer can show prejudice arising from the allegedly late notice.
July 25, 2023
Farmers Cooperative Appeals Rulings In Defective Silo Construction Coverage Case

LAREDO, Texas — A farmers cooperative has appealed to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a Texas federal judge’s June ruling that the insurer of a contractor it hired to build two grain silos has no duty to indemnify the contractor in the cooperative’s underlying lawsuit alleging that the construction was defective because the cooperative did not incur any “property” damage to trigger coverage and the policy exclusions bar coverage even if the underlying damages were deemed “loss of use” property damage.
July 25, 2023
Glass Installer Appeals Ruling For CGL, Umbrella Insurers To 3rd Circuit

CAMDEN, N.J. — A glass installer has appealed to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a New Jersey federal judge’s June ruling that its commercial general liability and umbrella insurers are not liable to cover defense and indemnity costs it incurred in settling an underlying action alleging that a glass curtain wall it installed became visibly obstructed by a dark “dripping” material because there was no property damage caused by an occurrence during the policy periods.
July 25, 2023
Judge Denies Roofing Insurer’s Motion To Reconsider Dismissal Of Declaratory Action

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania has denied an insurer’s request for reconsideration of the dismissal of its declaratory relief action stemming from two negligence and faulty work lawsuits against its roofing contractor insured, saying he “properly interpreted and applied the law, and did not rely upon erroneous factual conclusions” when he dismissed the case sua sponte for lack of jurisdiction.
July 25, 2023
Asbestos Firms, Insolvent Insurer Group Duel In Settlement Appeal

NEW ORLEANS — An appeal by two asbestos law firms of a Louisiana federal bankruptcy judge’s approval of a $1 million settlement between the Chapter 7 trustee for a bankrupt insulation supplier and the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA) should be tossed because the firms’ arguments against dismissal “focus primarily on rehashing their arguments before the Bankruptcy Court,” the trustee and LIGA argue in a reply brief in federal court.
July 24, 2023
No Additional Abrupt Collapse Coverage Owed, Insurer Argues To 10th Circuit

DENVER — An insurer and its claims service manager argue to the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a building owner insured is owed no coverage under an insurance policy’s additional abrupt collapse coverage, contending that the insured’s building “did not collapse because its structural capacity was not ‘substantially’ or ‘significantly’ impaired.”
July 24, 2023
Insurer, Insured Stipulate To Dismissal In Classic Car Policy Coverage Dispute

DENVER — An insurer and its insured stipulated to dismissal of claims against each other in a Colorado federal court regarding alleged material misrepresentations the insured made in procuring a classic car insurance policy and the insurer’s denial of coverage for the insured’s allegedly stolen cars.
July 21, 2023
Insurers Urge Ohio High Court To Reverse Ruling In Lead Paint Coverage Suit

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court should reverse a state appellate court’s ruling that an insured’s obligation to contribute to a lead paint abatement fund constitutes damages under applicable insurance policies because the decision nullifies prior rulings made by the Ohio high court, the insurers maintain in a brief on the merits.
July 20, 2023
Insurer Says No Coverage Owed For Underlying Contamination Suit

SAN ANTONIO — No coverage is owed to an insured for an underlying suit alleging that discharges from the insured’s wastewater disposal well contaminated nearby land because the discharges were not sudden and accidental as required for the policy’s exception to a pollution exclusion to apply, an insurer contends in a complaint filed in Texas federal court.
July 18, 2023
Settlement Notice Issued In Water Damage Coverage Row Involving Insolvent Insurer

MIAMI — An insurer on July 17 provided a Florida court with notice that it served a homeowner with a proposed settlement in the homeowner’s breach of contract suit against the insurer and an insolvent insurer, alleging failure to cover all water-related damages.
July 17, 2023
Receiver Asks Delaware Court to Liquidate Life And Health Reinsurer

WILMINGTON, Del. — As previously signaled, the receiver for Scottish Re (U.S.) Inc. in Rehabilitation (SRUS) on July 14 moved in the Delaware Court of Chancery for entry of a liquidation and injunction order declaring, in part, that the life and health reinsurer “is impaired, insolvent, and in an unsound condition.”
July 17, 2023
Insurers Refute Argument That Wind-Driven Rain Must Be Treated As ‘Separate’ Peril

SEATTLE — Responding to a condominium owners association insured’s appeal in a water damage repairs coverage suit, insurers argued to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the Washington Supreme Court’s recent unanimous ruling Hill & Stout, PLLC v. Mut. of Enumclaw Ins. Co. precludes the insured’s argument that wind-driven rain must be treated as a “separate” peril under the policy.
July 17, 2023
Homeowners Association Appeals Ruling For Insurer In Suit Arising From Roof Damage

LOS ANGELES — A condominium homeowners association has appealed a California judge’s grant of summary judgment to its insurer in its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from storm damage to the roof of a Studio City building that housed 31 luxury condominiums.
July 12, 2023
Insured Appeals Denial Of Leave To Amend Coronavirus Complaint

BALTIMORE — An insured notified a Maryland federal court that it is appealing the court’s denial of its motion for leave to file a second amended complaint to address the standard for physical loss that was provided by the Maryland Supreme Court in answer to a certified question in a coronavirus coverage dispute.
July 11, 2023
Whistleblower Seeks To Vacate Dismissal In FCA Suit Alleging Medicare Fraud

NEW YORK — One day after a New York federal magistrate judge issued an order granting a whistleblower physician permission to do so, the whistleblower moved to reopen a case dismissed by stipulation, asserting that he discovered new evidence in his federal and state false claims act violations suit against his former employer, a New York state health system, for alleged fraudulent billing to Medicare and Medicaid.
July 10, 2023
Black Homeowners Say State Farm’s AI Discriminates Against Them

CHICAGO — State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. trained the artificial intelligence at the heart of its claims processing system with historically biased housing and claims data, making the program much more likely to flag claims by black homeowners and causing delays in repairs and other harms, plaintiffs tell a federal judge in Illinois in opposing dismissal of a class action.
July 05, 2023
Remand Motion In Lawsuit Over Purported Reinsurance Is Withdrawn

HONOLULU — The plaintiff in a dispute over a purported reinsurance policy has withdrawn its remand motion without prejudice, telling a Hawaii federal court that it made the call after “review of the current evidentiary record,” including the defendant’s opposition to remand and “recently filed exhibits” that “assert and contain facts that were uniquely in Defendant’s control.”
July 05, 2023
Judgment On Pleadings Disputed In Row Over Sexual Abuse Case Settlements

SEATTLE — Parties in a case over reimbursement for defense and settlement of suits alleging sexual abuse are disputing a motion for judgment on the pleadings, with an interlocal cooperative and a foreign reinsurer arguing issues including whether a pending bid to add allegations renders the motion moot.
July 03, 2023
Texas High Court Passes On Health Insurance Arbitration Dispute

FORT WORTH, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court declined to weigh in on a dispute over the proper process for evaluating arbitration claims involving health insurers and out-of-network providers.
June 30, 2023
Insurer Says 3rd Circuit Properly Found Faulty Workmanship Is Not Occurrence

PHILADELPHIA — Rehearing of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling in favor of an insurer in a dispute over coverage for damages to natural gas wells caused by the insured’s fracking work is not warranted because the panel correctly found that neither faulty workmanship nor failure to perform a contract in a workmanlike manner can be construed as an occurrence under the policy at issue, an insurer says in response to the insured’s petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc.