Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

  • 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.

  • February 25, 2025

    Insurer Disputes Contention That ‘Windstorm’ Is Ambiguous In Tornado Coverage Suit

    AUSTIN, Texas — Replying to insureds’ response to its petition for review asking the Texas Supreme Court to review a Texas appellate court majority’s reversal of a lower court’s judgment against the insureds in a coverage dispute arising from tornado damage, a homeowners insurer asserts that the insureds’ contention that “windstorm” is ambiguous “can be true only for those unfamiliar with English grammar, plain language, and precedent.”

  • February 24, 2025

    Insured Says Allocation To Excess Insurer In Contamination Suit Was Proper

    SEATTLE — A trial court correctly found that an insured was permitted to allocate more than $500,000 in defense costs incurred for environmental contamination liabilities to an excess insurer because the timing of the allocation of the defense costs was appropriate based on the timing of a decision a prior appeal filed by the insured, the insured says in a response brief filed in the Division I Washington Court of Appeals.

  • 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.”

  • February 21, 2025

    Status Report Filed In 1st Circuit By Puerto Rico Insurance Commissioner

    BOSTON — In status report filed in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the Puerto Rico insurance commissioner and the auxiliary rehabilitator of a health insurer informed the court that a court hearing a case under Title III of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act is currently considering an objection filed by Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board opposing requests by two plaintiffs in related cases before a Puerto Rico federal court asking the Title III court to allow their cases to proceed to trial.

  • February 20, 2025

    Consolidation Bid Disputed In Case That Arose From Fronting Arrangement Deal

    NEW ORLEANS — Parties in a case arising from a fronting arrangement are disputing a motion to consolidate, with a managing general agent (MGA) arguing in a reply brief that the Louisiana federal court should focus on “the integrated nature of the transactions and agreements at issue” and that consolidation would “promote judicial economy.”

  • February 20, 2025

    Ex-CEO’s Legal Bills Case Draws Fiduciary Breach, Concealment Counterclaims

    DALLAS — Filing counterclaims against its former CEO in Texas federal court, a delisted insurer that says its shares are now “essentially worthless” alleges that his purported “scheme to doctor the claims reserves in the commercial auto line was a significant factor in” losses connected to termination of a loss portfolio transfer (LPT) reinsurance contract.

  • February 19, 2025

    Media Tech Insurer, Financial Services Firm Settle Data Breach Coverage Dispute

    SEATTLE — A media tech insurer that filed suit and its financial services firm insured filed a notice in a Washington federal court indicating they have settled 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.

  • February 18, 2025

    Excess Insurer Appeals Ruling In BIPA Violation Coverage Dispute

    CHICAGO — An excess insurer filed a notice indicating that it is appealing an Illinois federal court’s ruling granting in part and denying in part cross-motions for summary judgment in a franchisee of the Burger King chain’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking a declaration that the insurer has a duty to defend against an underlying putative class lawsuit alleging that the insured violated the Illinois Biometric Information Protection Act (BIPA).

  • 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

    Defective Workmanship Claims Do Not Constitute Occurrence, Excess Insurer Argues

    PHOENIX — An excess commercial insurer filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit in an Arizona federal court arguing that underlying defective workmanship allegations “standing alone do not constitute an ‘occurrence’” and repair of the purported defective workmanship or product fail to constitute “property damage” to trigger coverage, seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify its subcontractor insured and an underlying $6 million stipulated judgment cannot be enforced against it.

  • February 18, 2025

    Class Action Alleges Allstate Collected, Sold Data Without Plaintiffs’ Consent

    CHICAGO — A class action complaint filed in Illinois federal court alleges that The Allstate Corp. and its subsidiaries collected and sold the plaintiffs’ personal data and “‘trillions of miles’ worth of ‘driving behavior’” data without their consent.

  • February 13, 2025

    Reinsurer, General Agent Dispute Reporting Requirements In Breach Of Contract Suit

    FORT WORTH, Texas — Whether a general agent had to report certain developments to a reinsurer or just to the insurer in a dispute that resulted in a multimillion-dollar personal injury judgment is the focus of partial summary judgment briefing in the reinsurer’s breach of contract suit against the general agent in Texas federal court.

  • February 12, 2025

    Insurer Says No Coverage Owed To Flint, Mich., Hospital Over Water Crisis Claims

    DETROIT — An insurance company on Feb. 11 sued McLaren Health Care Corp. in Michigan federal court arguing that it has no duty to indemnify McLaren in connection with a $641 million settlement that was reached in the litigation over the lead-contaminated water claims in the city of Flint, Mich., where McLaren runs a hospital in which patients were injured during the Flint water crisis.  The insurer says it has no duty to indemnify McLaren and argues that it has “no liability of any kind” under the policy it issued.