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Mealey's Insurance

  • July 30, 2021

    $10.9M Awarded In Asbestos, Reinsurance Coverage Suit; Prejudgment Interest Sought

    ALBANY, N.Y. — Following a jury’s verdict in favor of an insurer on whether defense costs paid on behalf of an insured for asbestos liabilities are covered under a reinsurer’s policies and entry of judgment awarding $10,901,005 in damages, the insurer on July 29 filed notice of a motion before a New York federal judge to correct or amend the motion to include prejudgment interest of $8,444,834.

  • July 29, 2021

    Albany County Justice: COVID-19 Coverage Suit Must Be Transferred To New York County

    ALBANY N.Y. — An Albany County, N.Y., Supreme Court justice on July 26 granted an all-risk commercial insurer’s motion to transfer an insured’s coronavirus coverage lawsuit to New York County, rejecting the insured’s argument that the current venue is proper under the policy’s forum selection clause.

  • July 28, 2021

    Judge Issues Reasons For Earlier Dismissal Of Health Care Provider’s $1.25B Suit

    NEW YORK — Twenty days after issuing a one-page order dismissing Northwell Health Inc.’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking $1.25 billion in coverage for its property and business interruption losses and decontamination costs arising out of the coronavirus pandemic, a federal judge in New York on July 27 entered a judgment in favor of two commercial property insurers after finding that Northwell’s arguments for coverage under “a litany of possible provisions” “are unpersuasive.”

  • July 28, 2021

    Personal Injury Claims Arising Out Of Lead-Smelting Plant Are 1 Occurrence

    ST. LOUIS — A Missouri federal judge on July 25 determined that underlying personal injury claims arising out of an insured’s lead-smelting operations constitute one occurrence under four policies issued by an insurer because all of the underlying claims arose out of the insured’s operation of a lead-smelting plant.

  • July 28, 2021

    Insurer Asserts Affirmative Defenses For Coverage Of Environmental Claim

    NEWARK, N.J. — In a July 14 answer to an amended complaint filed in New Jersey federal court about environmental investigation and remediation at an insured property, an insurer asserts numerous affirmative defenses including that the insured “is barred from bringing a claim against the defendant by virtue of being made whole through the voluntary settlement of a previous matter.”

  • July 26, 2021

    Total Pollution Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage For Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Claims

    CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A total pollution exclusion does not preclude coverage to an insured for an underlying personal injury suit arising out of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by the malfunction of a gas-powered boiler because under Wyoming law, pollution exclusions do not apply to personal injuries caused by exposure to nonenvironmental pollution, a Wyoming federal judge said July 16 in granting the underlying plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment.

  • July 26, 2021

    Imposing New, Retroactive Risk On Insurers Would Threaten Solvency, Amicus Argues

    ATLANTA — American Property Casualty Insurance Association on July 21 filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London in a coronavirus coverage suit, arguing to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that commercial property insurance policies “do not—and were never intended to—provide coverage for economic losses untethered to physical loss or physical damage.”

  • July 25, 2021

    California Federal Judge Says No Coverage Owed For Water Damages

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California federal judge on July 9 granted a rental dwelling insurer’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith claims after determining that the insured failed to show that the water leak was sudden as required for coverage to exist under the policy.

  • July 22, 2021

    Oral Arguments Held On Motion For Attorney Fees Against Reinsurer Under English Law

    NEW YORK — A New York federal magistrate judge on July 19 heard oral arguments on an umbrella insurer’s motion seeking almost $400,000 in attorney fees and costs in a dispute with an English reinsurer over responsibility for an environmental claims settlement.

  • July 22, 2021

    Debtor ON Marine Seeks Mediation Of Settlements With Asbestos Insurers

    PITTSBURGH — Chapter 11 debtor ON Marine Services Company LLC is ready to turn to a mediator to help negotiate with asbestos claimants and insurance companies over the amounts the insurers should pay in settlements with the debtor to fund an asbestos trust, the company says in a July 19 status report in Pennsylvania federal bankruptcy court.

  • July 22, 2021

    No Coverage Owed For Silica Dust Contamination Caused By Garage Door Installation

    MINNEAPOLIS — No coverage is owed for dust contamination caused by the negligent installation of a garage door because the dust contamination contained silica and the policy at issue clearly precludes coverage for silica and silica-related dust, a Minnesota federal judge said July 20 in granting a motion for summary judgment filed by the contractor responsible for the garage door installation.

  • July 21, 2021

    West Virginia Federal Jury Awards Insured More Than $33M For Silo Collapse

    CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A federal jury in West Virginia on July 16 awarded an insured seeking coverage for property damages caused by the collapse of its silo almost $33 million after determining that the collapse of the silo was not caused by wear and tear, an excluded cause of loss under the policy.

  • July 21, 2021

    Federal Judge Sets Final Pretrial Conference In Reinsurance Billings Suit

    BOSTON — In a procedural order noted in a July 16 docket entry, a federal judge in Massachusetts set a final pretrial conference for Sept. 22 in a reinsurance billings dispute over the allocation of a $120 million environmental claims settlement.

  • July 21, 2021

    Bad Faith Claim Cannot Proceed In Water Damage Suit, Judge Determines

    WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge on July 16 dismissed an insured’s bad faith claim against a rental dwelling insurer after determining that the insured failed to support the allegation that the insurer acted in bad faith in denying the insured’s claim for water damage.

  • July 20, 2021

    Federal Judge Dismisses Health Care Provider’s $1.25B Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on July 7 granted two commercial property insurers’ motion to dismiss Northwell Health Inc.’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking $1.25 billion in coverage for its property and business interruption losses and decontamination costs arising out of the coronavirus pandemic and denied as moot Northwell’s motion for partial summary judgment.

  • July 20, 2021

    Federal Judge Dismisses Motion Picture Company’s COVID-19 Coverage Suit

    LOS ANGELES — One day after a motion picture company insured and its insurer filed a joint stipulation of dismissal, a federal judge in California on July 16 dismissed without prejudice the insured’s lawsuit alleging that its insurer refused to extend its “film producers risk” insurance policy when the production of the  movie “Hypnotic” starring Ben Affleck was delayed by risks associated with the coronavirus pandemic.

  • July 20, 2021

    Bankruptcy Court Approves Insurers’ Settlements With Asbestos Debtor Fairbanks

    ROME, Ga. — Settlements worth more than $47 million between Chapter 11 debtor The Fairbanks Co. and its asbestos insurers that are the linchpins of the company’s plan to reorganize gained approval July 9 from a Georgia federal bankruptcy judge.

  • July 19, 2021

    Insurer Claims It Did Not Breach Contract In Benzene Exposure Dispute

    WILMINGTON, Del. — An insurer claims in a July 16 answer to a complaint that it did not breach its contract in handling its insureds’ claim seeking coverage for underlying benzene exposure claims.

  • July 19, 2021

    Judge: Allowing Claims Against Insureds To Proceed May Result In Undue Prejudice

    NEW ORLEANS — Granting an insolvent insurer’s motion to stay an asbestos liability lawsuit in its entirety, a federal judge in Louisiana held July 6 that allowing the plaintiffs to proceed against the insureds while the claims against the insolvent insurer are stayed “would frustrate the parties' ability to resolve the case as a whole and may result in undue prejudice to both plaintiff and defendant.”

  • July 19, 2021

    5th Circuit Dismisses Insureds’ Appeal Of COVID-19 Dispute For Want Of Prosecution

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 15 dismissed insureds’ appeal of a Louisiana federal court’s grant of their businessowners insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in their lawsuit seeking coverage for their alleged losses prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, noting that the appellants failed to timely file their brief and record excerpts.