Mealey's Catastrophic Loss
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April 04, 2022
Question Of Fact Exists On Insured’s Bad Faith Claim In Hurricane Coverage Suit
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Texas federal judge on March 31 denied a property insurer’s motion for summary judgment on an insured’s bad faith claim in a dispute over coverage for hurricane damages after determining that a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether the insurer handled the insured’s claim in a reasonable manner.
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April 01, 2022
R.I. Justice: COVID-19 Is Not Capable Of Causing Physical Loss Or Damage ‘Full Stop’
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Rhode Island justice on March 29 granted a commercial property insurer’s motion for summary judgment in an insured’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic, finding that the presence of employees at insured locations who either tested positive for or were suspected to have the coronavirus does not establish that the insured suffered “physical loss or damage” to its locations as a matter of law.
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April 01, 2022
Justice Tosses Counterclaims, All But 1 Affirmative Defense In COVID-19 Dispute
NEW YORK — A New York justice on March 31 granted an insurer’s motion to dismiss a restaurant owner’s declaratory judgment, breach of contract and unjust enrichment counterclaims in the insurer’s lawsuit disputing coverage for the insured’s alleged losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic, further dismissing all but one of the insured’s affirmative defenses.
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March 31, 2022
Illinois Panel Reverses Class Certification In Restaurant’s COVID-19 Coverage Suit
ELGIN, Ill. — Reversing and remanding a lower court’s order granting class certification, an Illinois appeals panel on March 30 held that a restaurant failed to allege a valid claim for contamination coverage under its commercial property insurance policy and, therefore, its declaratory judgment and bad faith lawsuit arising from the coronavirus pandemic may not proceed as a class action.
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March 31, 2022
Illinois Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Medical Imaging Clinics’ COVID-19 Coverage Suit
CHICAGO — An Illinois appeals panel on March 30 affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of the owner and operator of medical imaging clinics’ declaratory judgment and bad faith coverage lawsuit arising from the coronavirus pandemic, finding that the insured failed to allege a physical alteration of its property that would trigger business income and extra expense coverage under its insurance policy.
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March 31, 2022
Coverage Owed Only For Damaged Electrical System, 9th Circuit Panel Says
PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 22 determined that a commercial property insurer owes coverage only for damage to an electrical system at an insured car wash because the insured retained an insurable interest in the electrical system; however, the panel found that no additional coverage for other property and vandalism losses is owed and affirmed the dismissal of the insured’s bad faith claim.
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March 31, 2022
Champlain Unit Owners, Insurer Object To $83M Allocation Settlement
MIAMI — Multiple objections by owners of condominium units and estates of unit owners at the Champlain Towers South Condominium Building (CTS) in Surfside, Fla., that partially collapsed in June 2021 were filed in a Florida court on March 23, along with an objection by the insurer of 42 of the units and a request for clarification by one of the defendants in a consolidated putative class complaint; these filings are some of the latest to oppose an $83 million allocation settlement agreement granted preliminary approval earlier in the month.
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March 30, 2022
Judge Partially Denies Insurer’s Motion To Dismiss Provider’s Coronavirus Suit
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on March 29 granted in part and denied in part a health care premises pollution liability insurer’s motion to dismiss New York state's largest health care provider and private employer’s lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic, finding that the policy is ambiguous as to whether the pandemic led to the occurrence of a “facility-borne virus event.”
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March 30, 2022
Federal Judge: Amtrak Failed To Provide Insurer Timely Notice Of Personal Injury Suit
TAMPA, Fla. — Two days after finding that Amtrak has failed to overcome the presumption of prejudice to an insurer due to its untimely notice of an underlying personal injury lawsuit arising from a collision between an Amtrak train and a car, a Florida federal judge on March 28 entered a declaratory judgment that the insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify Amtrack against the underlying lawsuit.
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March 30, 2022
5th Circuit: Medical Clinic’s Alleged Losses During Pandemic Do Not Trigger Coverage
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 29 affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of a commercial property insurer’s motion to dismiss a medical and surgical clinic’s lawsuit seeking to recover its economic losses stemming from the close of its business during the coronavirus pandemic, finding that the insured has failed to allege a covered loss.
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March 28, 2022
Actress, State Farm Stipulate To Dismissal Of Bad Faith Suit Arising From Wildfire
LOS ANGELES — Actress Shannen Doherty and her insurer State Farm General Insurance Co. on March 24 filed a stipulation in a California federal court dismissing with prejudice Doherty’s bad faith lawsuit arising from her property damage caused by the Woolsey Fire in Malibu, Calif., two months after a judge granted the insured’s motion for a new trial after finding that the jury made a mistake in determining that the insurer breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
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March 25, 2022
Federal Judge Refuses To Remand Philadelphia Eagles’ COVID-19 Suit Against Insurer
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on March 24 denied a motion by the owner and operator of the Philadelphia Eagles football organization to remand its lawsuit seeking a declaration as to coverage for its alleged losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic eight days after its property insurer moved to dismiss the lawsuit, rejecting the insured’s argument that remand was warranted so the federal court “can avoid interference in the delicate state regulatory issues involved and give appropriate respect to the important state interests implicated by this action.”
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March 25, 2022
Panel: Grill’s Business Interruption Claim Constituted Economic, Not Physical Loss
CHICAGO — An Illinois appeals panel on March 21 found that an Evanston, Ill., restaurant’s business interruption claim resulting from the coronavirus pandemic closure orders constituted an economic loss and not a “physical loss” to its insured property, affirming a lower court’s finding that coverage was not triggered.
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March 25, 2022
9th Circuit Affirms No Coverage Ruling In Suit Arising From Pandemic
PHOENIX — Citing “numerous published decisions interpreting nearly identical policy language,” the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 17 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of property insurer in an insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for its economic losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic.
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March 23, 2022
Business Income Loss Not Tangible, 5th Circuit Says In Coronavirus Coverage Suit
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 22 affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of a businessowners insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in an insureds’ lawsuit seeking coverage for their alleged losses prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, finding that the policy’s coverage for “direct physical loss of or damage to property” does not cover the insureds’ business income losses that were caused by civil authority orders closing nonessential businesses in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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March 23, 2022
2nd Circuit: Insured Fails To Allege Direct Physical Loss, Damage To Trigger Coverage
NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 18 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of an insurer in a coronavirus coverage lawsuit, finding that the insured alleges only a loss of use of property with respect to its food-service establishments, which does not constitute an “actual physical loss of” property.
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March 23, 2022
Panel Affirms Ruling In CGL Insurer’s Favor In Suit Seeking $100,000 Reimbursement
PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 21 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of a commercial general liability insurer in an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking reimbursement of $100,000 it spent repairing storm-damaged modular units, finding that the insurer has no duty to indemnify its insured because no underlying lawsuit was filed against the insured.
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March 21, 2022
Suit Over Damages From 3 Hurricanes, Tropical Storm Doomed By SFIP Noncompliance
NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Louisiana on March 18 dismissed an insured’s bad faith lawsuit seeking flood damage for her property damage caused by Hurricanes Cristobal, Beta and Zeta and Tropical Storm Sally, finding that the insured failed to comply with her Standard Flood Insurance Policy’s “strict” requirements.
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March 21, 2022
Judge Allows Lakers’ Property Damage Claims To Proceed In COVID-19 Coverage Suit
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California on March 17 denied an insurer’s motion to dismiss the Los Angeles Lakers’ first amended complaint to the extent that the claims are based on a commercial property insurance policy’s property damage clause, finding that the team has alleged that its “covered properties were physically altered” and that “those alterations caused detrimental economic impact.”
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March 18, 2022
Panel: Filed-Rate Doctrine Bars ‘Kickback Scheme’ Suit Against Flood Insurers, Bank
NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 15 affirmed a lower federal court’s finding that the filed-rate doctrine bars an attorney’s lawsuit alleging a bank and insurers participated in a “kickback scheme” that resulted in him being overcharged for flood insurance.