Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

  • March 27, 2024

    Insurer Seeks High Court Review Of Remanded Class Action Challenging Its Practices

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An insurer filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that a class action challenging its practices fits within the internal affairs and home state controversy exceptions to the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA).

  • March 26, 2024

    Companies Appeal Finding They Are Owed No Defense From Subcontractor’s Insurer

    LOS ANGELES — A building owner and a general contractor have appealed a California judge’s decision dismissing their lawsuit seeking payment from a subcontractor’s insurer after the judge agreed with the insurer that coverage was barred by a policy exclusion related to damage caused by the subcontractor’s faulty work.

  • March 25, 2024

    Insurer Says Lower Court Erred In Placing Burden On Insurer In Pollution Dispute

    SAN FRANCISCO — A district court erred in placing the burden on an insurer to prove that a pollution exclusion barred coverage for underlying environmental contamination lawsuits because the burden should have been placed on the insureds to prove that the exclusion did not apply as a bar to coverage, an insurer argues in its March 22 appellant brief filed in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • March 21, 2024

    AFFF Maker Seeks Ruling That Pollution Exclusions Do Not Bar Liability Claims

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — A company that makes the firefighting agent known as aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) has moved in South Carolina federal court for partial summary judgment against a group of insurers asking the court to find that the product liability and common-law causes of action alleging bodily injury and/or property damage that have been asserted against the company in the multidistrict litigation are not excluded from coverage by pollution exclusions.

  • March 20, 2024

    Oral Arguments Held In NRA’s Free Speech Suit Arising From Insurance Program

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the National Rifle Association of America (NRA)’s petition seeking review of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that it failed to plausibly assert that the former superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) unconstitutionally threatened or coerced an insurer or other entities to stifle its speech, addressing the NRA’s contention that it plausibly pleaded a First Amendment claim because the superintendent “chose coercion over persuasion.”

  • March 19, 2024

    Amended Complaint Proposed In Delaware Suit Over Alleged Asset Dissipation

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Plaintiffs in a suit over the “Agera transactions” — a complex asset-swap arrangement that they allege resulted in the “dissipation of at least $250 million” — have moved in Delaware Chancery Court for leave to amend the complaint “to clarify the record and make minimal amendments.”

  • March 15, 2024

    11th Circuit Tosses Construction Insurance Appeal, Finds It Lacks Jurisdiction

    ATLANTA — A panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal brought by a subcontractor’s insurer arguing that it owed no duty to defend or indemnify its insured due to policy exclusions, finding that the judgment the insurer appealed was not final because it did not dispose of all claims against all parties.

  • March 14, 2024

    Farmer, Regulators Brief Determination Row In Crop Insurance Case

    LUBBOCK, Texas — In competing motions for summary judgment and judgment on the administrative record in a crop insurance case, a farmer and federal regulators are disputing whether an agency applied the right standard and correctly considered expert testimony in concluding that the farmer failed to follow good farming practices (GFP).

  • March 13, 2024

    As Tax Penalty Row Over Microcaptives Nears Jury Trial, Parties Seek Exclusions

    FORT MYERS, Fla. — After a Florida federal judge denied motions for summary judgment and to preclude the testimony of three experts in consolidated cases involving promotion of purported microcaptive insurance companies, the parties asked the court to exclude certain evidence and terms from the approaching jury trial.

  • March 13, 2024

    Former CEO Of Modell’s Appeals Dismissal Of D&O Coverage Dispute

    NEW YORK —The former chief executive officer of the now bankrupt Modell’s Sporting Goods Inc. filed a notice in a New York federal court indicating that he is asking the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to review the court’s Feb. 8 ruling that granted a directors and officers liability insurer’s motion to dismiss his breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit, challenging the lower court’s finding that the policy does not give him the right to block coverage for the company’s former chief financial officer’s $2.8 million settlement of an underlying adversary proceeding filed by the liquidating trustee.

  • March 13, 2024

    AT&T Retirees File Putative Class ERISA Suit Over Pension Risk Transfer Deal

    BOSTON — Asserting in part that “reinsurance of ‘Pension Risk Transfer’ liabilities in Bermuda poses unique risks to pensioners,” four AT&T Inc. retirees who participated in a defined-benefit pension plan filed a class complaint in Massachusetts federal court challenging a “de-risking” transaction under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

  • March 12, 2024

    Insurers Tell N.C. High Court To Apply 27-Year-Old Precedent To Coronavirus Dispute

    RALEIGH, N.C. — Insurers argued to the North Carolina Supreme Court that it should affirm an appeals court’s reversal of a lower court’s grant of partial summary judgment in favor of restaurant insureds in a COVID-19 coverage dispute, responding to the insured’s appellant argument that the phrase “physical loss or physical damage” includes loss of the physical use of property under the state’s “long-standing principles of insurance contract interpretation.”

  • March 12, 2024

    Insured Asks 3rd Circuit To Reject Insurers’ Late-Notice Argument In Asbestos Suit

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should reject an attempt by insurers involved in an asbestos coverage suit to rewrite New Jersey’s late-notice law, an insured says in urging the Third Circuit to reverse a district court’s ruling entered in favor of the insurers.

  • March 12, 2024

    Judge Administratively Closes Suit Against Insurance Agent After Settlement Announced

    HARTFORD, Conn. — The same day parties announced that they reached a settlement “subject to the parties’ negotiation and execution of a mutually acceptable settlement agreement,” a federal judge in Connecticut administratively closed the insurer’s lawsuit alleging that an insurance agent’s failure to include exclusions in an insurance policy resulted in it paying more than $1 million in legal fees and expenses to settle an underlying worker injury lawsuit.

  • March 11, 2024

    Class Certification Bid Draws Opposition In DUFTA Case Involving Insurer

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Arguing in part that proposed class representatives “appear to be as unqualified as” one rejected in Gordon v. Sonar Capital Mgmt. LLC, defendants in a suit over an alleged scheme to strip capital from an insurance subsidiary on which many policyholders depend for long-term care (LTC) disability benefits urged the Delaware Chancery Court to deny certification of the proposed class.

  • March 08, 2024

    Claimant Says Additional LTD Benefits Are Owed Under Disability Plan

    PORTLAND, Maine — In a March 7 complaint filed in Maine federal court, a disability claimant maintains that she is entitled to unpaid long-term disability (LTD) benefits under a disability plan because she remains disabled under the terms of the plan.

  • March 08, 2024

    District Court’s Decision Should Be Affirmed, Disability Claimant Maintains

    PHILADELPHIA — A district court’s judgment in favor of a disability claimant should be affirmed because the court properly found that the plan’s termination of the claimant’s long-term disability (LTD) benefits was arbitrary and capricious and that the decision was inadequate for a number of reasons, the claimant says in an appellee brief filed in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • March 08, 2024

    Contractor: 11th Circuit Must Affirm Judge’s Denial Of Insurer’s Attorney Fees

    ATLANTA — A contractor tells the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a response brief that a Florida federal judge was correct to deny its insurer’s request for attorney fees in one of two ongoing appeals stemming from the federal judge’s finding that the contractor and a subcontractor were not entitled to a defense from the insurer due to the presence of a policy exclusion.

  • March 07, 2024

    Contractor Seeks 6th Circuit’s Review Of Coverage Rulings In Wall Collapse Suit

    CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Less than two weeks after a building owner filed a notice of appeal to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the contractor responsible for the building’s renovation work followed suit and filed its own notice of appeal, seeking review of a Tennessee federal judge’s ruling and judgment entered in favor of the insurer in the dispute between the building owner, contractor and insurer over coverage for the replacement of the building’s wall that fell during renovation work.

  • March 06, 2024

    Amicus Curiae Argues In Support Of Drug Distributor In Opioid Coverage Dispute

    SAN FRANCISCO — United Policyholders (UP) filed an amicus curiae brief in support of a prescription drug distributor insured asking the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its ruling that there is no coverage owed for lawsuits prompted by the opioid epidemic because the underlying claims “describe exclusively deliberate conduct,” arguing that the ruling “deviates from every other court in the United States that has considered whether the allegations against opioid distributors constitute an ‘occurrence’ or ‘accident’ under the terms of insurance policies like those at issue here.”

  • March 05, 2024

    Reinsurer Seeks Reconsideration In Default Dispute In Settlement Reimbursement Case

    OMAHA, Neb. — Arguing in part that “the prima facie standard only applies at the pre-trial stage,” a Brazil-based reinsurer has asked a Nebraska federal judge to reconsider denying its motion to set aside a default previously entered against it in the suit over reimbursement for a settlement reached with Montana regarding alleged asbestos exposure.

  • March 05, 2024

    Liability Insurer Says 10th Circuit Should Affirm Order Barring Coverage In MDL

    DENVER — A liability insurer argued in its answer brief in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the appellate court should affirm a district court’s ruling that it does not owe a duty to indemnify the appellant health insurer in an underlying multidistrict litigation (MDL) antitrust dispute involving an excess errors and omissions (E&O) policy issued by a now-insolvent insurer.

  • March 01, 2024

    City Seeks Rehearing In Coverage Suit Over Tax Revenue Losses Arising From Pandemic

    ST. LOUIS — A Missouri city asked the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its ruling that a commercial property insurer owes no coverage for the city’s tax revenue losses due to governmental closure orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that the “inartful” policy is not clear and unambiguous.

  • February 29, 2024

    Travelers Appeals Finding It Wasn’t Owed Contribution In Construction Coverage

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A contractor’s insurer that sought equitable contribution and equitable indemnification from a subcontractor’s insurer filed a notice of appeal on Feb. 28 in a California federal court, appealing the ruling of a federal judge who found that the subcontractor’s insurer owed no defense to the contractor as an additional insured.

  • February 29, 2024

    Parties Brief Corner Post In Health Plans’ Consolidated Illegal Exaction Cases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In supplemental briefing in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the government and group health plans both say a pending U.S. Supreme Court case will not resolve their dispute in consolidated cases where the plans allege that the government illegally exacted contributions from them under the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).