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June 24, 2026
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut federal bankruptcy judge lifted the automatic stay in the case of asbestos debtor The Nash Engineering Co. so a declaratory judgment action filed by two of its umbrella insurers to determine the rights and obligations of the debtor and insurers with respect to asbestos claims can proceed.
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June 23, 2026
OWENSBORO, Ky. — A breach of contract claim will proceed against a homeowners insurer because questions of fact exist on whether damage to the foundation of an insured home was preexisting damage and, therefore, excluded under the policy, a Kentucky federal judge said in denying the insurer’s motion for summary judgment on the breach of contract claim.
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June 23, 2026
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A California federal judge dismissed the employer of an underlying plaintiff from an insurer’s suit seeking a declaration that no coverage is owed for an underlying carbon monoxide poisoning suit after the insurer notified the court that it was voluntarily dismissing the employer from the suit.
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June 23, 2026
LANSING, Mich. — The majority of a Michigan Court of Appeals panel affirmed a trial court’s ruling in favor of a commercial property insurer, agreeing with the lower court that no coverage is owed for water damage in an insured building because the building was vacant when a frozen sprinkler pipe burst.
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June 22, 2026
TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal magistrate judge granted an insurer’s motion for summary judgment after determining that a breach of contract suit filed by insureds seeking coverage under a rental property insurance policy for water and mold damage cannot proceed because the insureds failed to file suit within five years of the date of loss.
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June 18, 2026
AUSTIN, Texas — Two insurers embroiled in a dispute over coverage for the settlement of an underlying lawsuit arising out of an employee’s injuries caused by exposure to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and other chemicals filed a joint notice of settlement in Texas federal court after reaching an agreement to resolve their claims.
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June 17, 2026
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court granted Exxon Mobile Corp.’s petition seeking review of an appellate court’s ruling that reversed and rendered judgment that Exxon take nothing against its umbrella insurer in its lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying $35 million injury settlement arising from an oil refinery explosion.
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June 16, 2026
CHICAGO — An Illinois state judge denied an insured’s motion for summary determination after finding that the Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling that a pollution exclusion can apply as a bar to coverage for emissions that are permitted under Illinois law applies retroactively rather than prospectively.
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June 16, 2026
LOS ANGELES — An insured maintains in its reply in support of its motion to stay its silica coverage suit pending in California federal court that a stay is warranted until the underlying silica bodily injury suits are resolved but says the stay should be limited to the indemnification and bad faith claims.
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June 16, 2026
FORT MYERS, Fla. — No coverage is owed to an insured homeowners association and its property management company for an underlying suit stemming from the death of a resident allegedly exposed to toxins and mold while living in a property maintained by the homeowners association and property management company because the policy’s pollution exclusion and pathogen and related hazard exclusion bar coverage, an insurer says in a complaint filed in Florida federal court.
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June 16, 2026
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Fourth District Florida Court of Appeal panel reversed a trial court’s dismissal of an insured’s bad faith suit stemming from a dispute over coverage for the collapse of a ceiling in the insured’s restaurant after determining that the action can proceed because the trial court misapplied the precedent on which it relied to dismiss the suit.
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June 15, 2026
BUFFALO, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York adopted a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation dismissing a subcontractor’s suit against a contractor and its insurer seeking to recoup the costs of remediating water intrusion at a building under construction.
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June 15, 2026
SCRANTON, Pa. — A breach of contract claim against a homeowners insurer that denied an insured’s water damage claim can proceed because questions of fact exist regarding the timing of the loss and whether the loss was sudden or gradual, a Pennsylvania federal judge said in partially denying the insurer’s motion for summary judgment.
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June 09, 2026
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge on June 8 agreed to stay an insurer’s lawsuit for six months to allow a California federal judge to determine whether the California judge’s summary judgment order, entered in a similar lawsuit filed by the insured countertop manufacturer named in hundreds of underlying silica exposure lawsuits, applies to all of the underlying silica lawsuits or only a select number of the underlying suits filed against the insured.
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June 09, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — Following a district court’s finding on remand that complete diversity of citizenship exists between an insured and the named insurers, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 8 affirmed the lower court’s summary judgment ruling entered in favor of the insurers, agreeing with the lower court that no coverage is owed pursuant to the policy’s known pollution conditions exclusion for the settlement of an underlying personal injury suit stemming from carbon monoxide exposure.
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June 09, 2026
BOSTON — Pennsylvania law must be applied in an environmental contamination coverage dispute because Pennsylvania is where the policies were issued and most likely negotiated, a Massachusetts federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion for partial summary judgment on the choice-of-law issue.
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June 09, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated and remanded a district court’s denial of two motions for leave to file an amended complaint filed by the successor company of an insured in a suit seeking coverage for an underlying oil contamination lawsuit because the lower court failed to “articulate its reasoning” as to why the addition of other plaintiffs would be futile.
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June 08, 2026
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Florida federal judge dismissed claims against four of six insurers sued by a company operating a variety of businesses, including convenience stores, seeking coverage for more than $73 million in alleged COVID-19-related losses, finding that as to the four insurers, the company failed to plead specific facts regarding instances of COVID-19 at a covered location and instead relied on conclusory allegations.
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June 03, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 2 denied an umbrella insurer’s petition for panel or en banc rehearing in a dispute over the application of the policies’ annual aggregate limit provision to the insured’s environmental contamination remediation costs, declining to revisit its determination that the annual aggregate limit provision is ambiguous.
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June 02, 2026
TAMPA, Fla. — A commercial general liability insurer maintains in a complaint filed in Florida federal court that no coverage is owed to its insureds for an underlying wrongful death suit because its policy’s hazardous materials exclusion bars coverage for bear mace that was sprayed by the insureds’ employee while a crowd of patrons was exiting the insured nightclub.
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June 02, 2026
PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon federal judge adopted a magistrate judge’s recommendation to deny an insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in an environmental contamination coverage suit based on the magistrate judge’s finding that questions of fact exist as to whether the policy’s aggregate indemnity limit is exhausted.
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June 02, 2026
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — An insured, named in an underlying carbon monoxide poisoning suit, is not entitled to a defense or indemnity because coverage is excluded pursuant to a pollution exclusion in the policies at issue, the insurer maintains in a motion for summary judgment filed in California federal court.
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June 01, 2026
GALVESTON, Texas — Claims for breach of contract, bad faith and violations of Texas law should not proceed against a homeowners insurer because they fail based on the insurer’s payment of an appraisal award, a Texas federal magistrate judge said May 29 in recommending that the insurer’s motion for summary judgment be granted.
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June 01, 2026
SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge denied motions for summary judgment filed by an insured and a homeowners insurer after determining that questions of fact exist as to whether the insurer’s estimate of the insured’s water loss damages was unreasonably low.
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May 29, 2026
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an insurer in a jewelry store insured’s breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit, holding that the plain, unambiguous language of a policy’s flood carveout to a water backup extension applies to and bars coverage for the insured’s basement flooding following a 2021 rainstorm in Dearborn, Mich.