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Mealey's Insurance

  • June 21, 2022

    Coverage Afforded For Seismic Activity Caused By Insured’s Waste Water Disposal

    OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Supreme Court on June 14 affirmed a trial court’s finding that coverage is afforded for seismic activity allegedly caused by an oil and gas producer’s use of waste water disposal wells because the underlying suit filed by residents who sustained property damages alleges an occurrence under the policies and the policies’ pollution exclusion is ambiguous as to whether coverage is barred for the underlying suit.

  • June 21, 2022

    Insured’s Motion To Compel Appraisal In Sewage Flood Damages Suit Granted

    STAMFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut judge on June 14 granted an insured’s motion to compel appraisal in a coverage dispute over a sewage flood after determining that nothing in the policy requires the coverage issues to be decided before proceeding to appraisal.

  • June 20, 2022

    Full Aggregate Policy Limits Apply To Insured’s Policies, 2nd Circuit Panel Says

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 16 reversed a district court’s ruling that the full aggregate policy limits do not apply to an insured’s policies that were effective for less than a full year because the policies at issue are ambiguous as to whether the full aggregate limits should apply for underlying asbestos liabilities and must be construed in favor of the insured.

  • June 17, 2022

    Some Claims In Contractor’s Water, Mold Damage Coverage Suit Allowed To Proceed

    DALLAS — A federal judge in Texas on June 14 issued a pair of opinions granting in part and denying in part an insurer’s motions for summary judgment and to exclude expert testimony in a coverage dispute stemming from The Travelers Lloyds Insurance Co.’s denial of coverage to a subcontractor for moisture and mold damages to a temporary building the subcontractor built for the U.S. government.

  • June 16, 2022

    Panel Finds ‘No Reversible Error’ In Court’s No Coverage Ruling In COVID-19 Dispute

    RICHMOND, Va. — Dispensing with oral argument, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 14 affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of an insurer in an insured’s lawsuit seeking a declaration as to business interruption coverage for the effects on its business and operations from the coronavirus pandemic.

  • June 16, 2022

    Motion To Dismiss Insured’s Claims In COVID, Pollution Suit Properly Denied

    BRONX, N.Y. — A trial court did not err in denying a pollution legal liability insurer’s motion to dismiss an insured’s claims for breach of contract and bad faith arising out of the insured’s claim for business interruption losses caused by the shutdown orders issued in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic because the insurer failed to meet its burden of proving that no coverage is afforded under the policy for the losses, the First Department of the New York County Supreme Court Appellate Division said June 14.

  • June 16, 2022

    Insured Says Court Erred In Ruling Pollution Liability Insurer Owes No Coverage

    NEW ORLEANS — A district court erred in finding that a pollution liability insurer owes no coverage to an insured for an underlying lawsuit alleging that the insured illegally discharged wastewater into a city sewage treatment facility because any ambiguity regarding the underlying allegations must be construed in favor of coverage, the insured says in a June 13 appellant brief filed in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • June 14, 2022

    Insured Says Carrier Breached Contract By Denying Coverage For Toxic Emissions Suit

    MIAMI — An insurer breached its contract by refusing to defend or reimburse its insured for defense costs incurred in an underlying suit arising out of emissions from the insured’s sugarcane farming business because the insured met the policy’s $1 million self-insured retention by paying for its defense costs, the insured contends in a June 7 complaint filed in Florida federal court.

  • June 14, 2022

    Panel Certifies Question To Massachusetts High Court In Pollution Liability Suit

    BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 7 certified a question in a pollution liability coverage dispute to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, asking the court to determine whether Massachusetts recognizes “a common-law duty for insurers to cover costs incurred by an insured party to prevent imminent covered loss, even if those costs are not covered by the policy.”

  • June 10, 2022

    COMMENTARY: The State Of COVID-19 Coverage Litigation In The United States: Insurers Are Prevailing In Coverage Cases, But COVID-19 Still Is Contributing To Social Inflation

    By Scott M. Seaman and Sarah Anderson

  • June 13, 2022

    Insureds Say Pollution Exclusion Is Ambiguous, Does Not Bar Coverage

    BOSTON — An insurer’s motion for summary judgment in a dispute arising out of coverage for an underlying bodily injury suit stemming from contact with raw sewage must be denied because the policy’s pollution exclusion is ambiguous and must be construed in favor of coverage, the insureds maintain in a June 9 opposition to the insurer’s motion for summary judgment filed in Massachusetts federal court.

  • June 13, 2022

    City Claims Insurer Has Duty To Indemnify For Judgment In Contamination Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A district court erred in finding that an insurer has no duty to indemnify a city on behalf of its insured for a judgment entered against the insured in an underlying environmental contamination dispute because the releases of contaminants into the groundwater are not excluded by the policies’ pollution exclusion and the releases were not expected or intended by the insured, the city contends in a June 8 appellant brief filed in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • June 10, 2022

    Bad Faith Counterclaim In Water Damage Suit Cannot Proceed, Judge Reiterates

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — A South Carolina federal judge on June 8 partially denied an insured’s motion for reconsideration, reiterating that the insured’s counterclaim for bad faith in a dispute over coverage for water damages in the insured’s home cannot proceed; however, the judge granted the motion as it applied to the insured’s negligence counterclaim because a reasonable juror could find that the insurer was negligent in handling the insured’s claim.

  • June 09, 2022

    Noting $157.2M Asbestos Settlement, Insurer Files Suits Against Reinsurers

    Noting that a court recently approved its $157.2 million settlement with the state of Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposures, National Indemnity Co. (NICO) on June 6 filed two suits in Nebraska federal court seeking declaratory judgment against reinsurers it said it had just billed for their portions of the loss; on June 7, NICO moved in Pennsylvania federal court to dismiss or transfer a declaratory judgment suit that one of the reinsurers had filed there over the same issue.

  • June 07, 2022

    Insurers Say Coverage Barred For Lake Pollution Caused By Construction Activities

    NEWNAN, Ga. — No coverage is owed to an insured seeking coverage for an underlying suit alleging that a lake was polluted by nearby construction activities in which the insured was involved because the underlying suit does not allege an occurrence and the policies at issue include pollution exclusions that bar coverage for the underlying suit, insurers contend in a May 31 complaint filed in Georgia federal court.

  • June 07, 2022

    Insured Appeals Finding That No Coverage Is Owed For Water Damage

    MIAMI — An insured filed a notice of appeal to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 11 after a Florida federal judge on April 11 determined that a surplus lines insurer owes no coverage to its insured for water damage because the insured failed to prove that there was any physical loss to his property as a result of the failure of a cast iron drain line.

  • June 06, 2022

    High Court Denies Insured’s Petition For Review In COVID, Virus Exclusion Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 6 denied an insured’s petition for writ of certiorari, refusing to review the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that a commercial lines policy’s virus exclusion clearly precludes coverage for the insured’s business losses sustained as a result of state government-ordered business closures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

  • June 06, 2022

    Insured Awarded Almost $1.5M In Breezeway Collapse Coverage Suit

    GREENSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge on June 2 entered an award of almost $1.5 million in favor of an insured seeking damages for a collapsed breezeway following the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that the insured is entitled to treble damages for the insurer’s violation of North Carolina’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act (UDTPA).

  • June 06, 2022

    COVID-19 Mitigation Efforts Are Not Remediation Costs Under Pollution Policy

    NEW ORLEANS — A premises pollution liability insurer owes no coverage for costs incurred by an insured for COVID-19 mitigation efforts because the mitigation efforts do not qualify as remediation costs under the pollution liability policy, a Louisiana federal judge said May 16 in granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment.

  • June 01, 2022

    Trial Court Properly Stayed Insurer’s Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Coverage Suit

    DETROIT — A trial court did not abuse its discretion in staying an insurer’s declaratory judgment suit until the underlying tort suit arising out of carbon monoxide poisoning is decided because the outcome of the underlying suit could impact the insurer’s declaratory judgment suit, the majority of the Michigan Court of Appeals said May 26.