Mealey's Emerging Insurance Disputes : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Emerging Insurance Disputes

March 07, 2025
No E&O Coverage Owed For Negligence Claim, 9th Circuit Affirms

PASADENA, Calif.— The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 6 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling that an email exchange a year before an errors and omissions insurance policy’s inception put the insured on notice of circumstances reasonably expected to lead to a claim and, therefore, the insurer has no duty to defend an underlying negligence claim.
March 06, 2025
Illinois Panel Affirms Ruling In Insureds’ Favor In Coverage Suit Over Arbitration

CHICAGO — An Illinois appeals court on March 5 affirmed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of insureds in their breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for a 2019 arbitration demand brought by investors, rejecting the insurer’s assertion that the 2019 arbitration shares a “common nexus” or is “casually connected” to a 2018 lawsuit.
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 05, 2025
Delaware Judge Grants Viacom’s Motion For Summary Judgment In D&O Coverage Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware judge granted Viacom Inc. motion for partial summary judgment in its lawsuit seeking directors and officers liability coverage for underlying claims that its directors, officers and controlling shareholders breached their fiduciary duties in connection with a 2019 merger with CBS Corp.
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
6th Circuit Affirms Ruling In Favor Of Dentist’s Professional Liability Insurer

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that because an appellant did not provide a professional liability insurer with “all reasonably obtainable information” about her potential negligence claim against a dentist insured, the insurer had no contractual duty to the insured and, as a result, the appellant’s bad faith claim fails.
March 04, 2025
Panel: Coverage Barred For $3M Judgment Over Unpaid Wages, Commissions Claims

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a breach of contract exclusion barred employment practices liability and directors and officers liability coverage for a more than $3 million underlying state court judgment in favor of former employees who sued the insured for breach of contract for unpaid wages and commissions, affirming a lower court’s ruling in favor of the insurer in its declaratory judgment 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 04, 2025
COMMENTARY: Sustainability Recalibration: What Insurers And Policyholders Should Know About ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance Considerations) Under Trump 2.0, Part 1

By Scott M. Seaman
February 25, 2025
COMMENTARY: AI Risk: New Tech, Same Coverage

By Michael S. Levine, Alex D. Pappas and Torrye N. Zullo
March 03, 2025
Pollution Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage For Carbon Monoxide Death

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Answering a certified question from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the Alaska Supreme Court determined that a pollution exclusion does not bar coverage for the carbon monoxide death of a 17-year-old because it was reasonable for the insureds to expect that coverage would be afforded based on a reading of the pollution exclusion.
March 03, 2025
Judge Partly Grants Insured’s Motion For Summary Judgment In D&O Coverage Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware judge granted in part and denied in part an insured’s motion for summary judgment in a directors and officers liability coverage dispute over an underlying shareholder lawsuit, concluding that the underlying settlement’s stock payment is a covered “loss” under the policies but there are genuine issues of fact as to the consent-to-settle policy provision.
March 03, 2025
Judgment Granted For Insurer In Row Over Sinking Vessel Coverage, Policy Voidance

MIAMI — A Florida federal judge adopted a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation to grant summary judgment to an insurer in its declaratory judgment suit seeking to void a marine policy for material misrepresentations and to deny coverage for the partial sinking of a vessel, finding that the magistrate judge correctly determined that the policy was voided due to an inaccurate answer to a policy application question that was material to the decision to issue the policy.
March 03, 2025
Insurers Settle Coverage Dispute With Taco Bell Owners Over BIPA Violation Claims

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The same day commercial general liability and umbrella insurers and the owners and operators of Taco Bell restaurants in Illinois indicated that they have agreed in principle to settle the insurers’ lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that they have no duty to defend and indemnify in an underlying class action alleging that the insureds violated the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), a federal magistrate judge in Illinois issued an order on Feb. 28 noting that all scheduled hearings are vacated and any pending motions are rendered moot.
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 28, 2025
Trustees Have No Standing To Sue D&O Liability Insurer, 4th Circuit Affirms

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals determined that neither the trustee of a bankrupt company nor a personal bankruptcy trustee has standing to sue the company’s directors and officers liability insurer, affirming a lower federal court’s ruling that agreed with a bankruptcy court’s dismissal of an adversary proceeding brought against the insurer.
February 27, 2025
Petitioners In Baltimore Bridge Collapse Suit Ordered To Be Deposed In U.S.

BALTIMORE — A federal chief magistrate judge in Maryland on Feb. 26 granted claimants’ motion to compel petitioners and their management agents and employees to submit to depositions in a Maryland federal court in an exoneration lawsuit brought by the owner and technical manager of the ship that allided with and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
February 27, 2025
Judge Enters Judgment In Coverage Suit Over Sexual Abuse Claims Against Coach

TACOMA, Wash. — A federal judge in Washington entered final judgment in favor of a homeowners insurer after finding that it has no duty to defend or indemnify its coach insured for underlying sexual abuse lawsuits.
February 26, 2025
Judge Dismisses Hospital’s $2.5M D&O Coverage Suit Over DOJ, AG Investigations

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted an insurer’s motion to dismiss a hospital insured’s breach of contract lawsuit, finding that the insurer’s liability is capped by the Regulatory Claim Endorsement’s $1 million sublimit and that the hospital failed to allege that the insurer breached its duty to pay for its $2.5 million in remaining defense expenses arising from underlying criminal federal and state investigations into the hospital’s employees and officers.
February 26, 2025
Georgia Panel Reverses Ruling In Surety Bond Dispute Over Employee Embezzlement

ATLANTA — A Georgia appeals court concluded that a county’s claims for payment under two public official bonds were barred by a three-year statute of limitations, reversing a lower court’s ruling against a surety in the county’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit demanding coverage for its losses arising from employee embezzlement.
February 25, 2025
Knowledge-Of-Falsity Policy Exclusion Bars Coverage, 10th Circuit Affirms

DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 24 affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment in favor of primary and excess commercial general liability insurers in their lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying slander of title action brought against their insured, finding that the policies’ knowledge-of-falsity exclusions preclude coverage.
February 25, 2025
Florida Panel Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

MIAMI — A Florida appeals panel on Feb. 19 affirmed a lower court’s judgment in favor of an insurer in an insured’s declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking coverage for its business interruption losses as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, concluding that nothing in the record supports the insured’s contention that the governmental shutdown orders “were issued ‘due to’ specific conditions at the premises of the Insured.”
February 25, 2025
N.J. High Court Agrees To Review Pharmaceutical Company’s D&O Coverage Suit

TRENTON, N.J. — The New Jersey Supreme Court granted a pharmaceutical company insured’s petition for certification seeking high court review of an appeals court’s reversal of a lower court’s rulings in its favor in its declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking directors and officers liability coverage for an underlying lawsuit.
February 24, 2025
Insurers Ask Supreme Court To Decide Whether Tribal Court Can Exercise Jurisdiction

WASHINGTON, D.C. — After the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied insurers’ petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc asking it to reconsider its opinion that affirmed a federal court’s finding that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over a COVID-19 coverage suit involving tribal properties on tribal land, the insurers filed a petition for writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine “whether a tribal court can exercise jurisdiction over nonmembers of the tribe based on off-reservation conduct.”