Mealey's Insurance Bad Faith : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Insurance Bad Faith

January 10, 2024
Reinsurer Tackles Third-Party Beneficiary Theory In Cleanup Costs Coverage Row

PADUCAH, Ky. — Arguing in part that what it calls a newly asserted third-party beneficiary theory fails as a matter of law, a reinsurer filed a reply brief on Jan. 9 urging a Kentucky federal court to grant its summary judgment motion in a dispute over pollution-related cleanup costs.
January 10, 2024
Louisiana Majority Refuses To Review Coverage Suit Over Hurricanes Laura, Delta

NEW ORLEANS — A majority of the Louisiana Supreme Court on Jan. 10 denied an insurer’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of lower court’s rulings following a jury verdict in favor of insureds in a coverage dispute arising from Hurricanes Laura and Delta damage.
January 09, 2024
Alaska Judge Denies Judgment For Insurer In Dispute Over Water Damage Coverage

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Alaska federal judge on Jan. 8 denied an insurer’s motion for summary judgment in its suit seeking a declaratory judgment that a homeowners policy does not provide coverage for the insured’s water damage, finding that fact issues remain regarding whether the insured advised the insurer that the second mortgage on his property “was subject to litigation.”
January 09, 2024
Panel Affirms $502,172 Bad Faith Judgment Against Insurer In Hurricane Laura Suit

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found no reversible error in a jury’s conclusion that an insurer acted in bad faith and underpaid its church insured for property damage that was caused by Hurricane Laura, affirming the trial court’s $502,172.16 award in favor of the insured for damages, penalties and fees.
January 08, 2024
Magistrate: Summary Judgment Not ‘Ideal Vehicle’ For Insurer’s Damages Argument

FORT MYERS, Fla. —A federal magistrate judge in Florida on Jan. 5 denied an insurer’s motion for partial summary judgment in a condominium insured’s bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for property damage caused by Hurricane Irma, finding that “summary judgment is not the ideal vehicle” for addressing the insurer’s arguments against the insured’s claim for damages.
January 08, 2024
Insured Fails To Support Breach Of Contract, Bad Faith Claims, Federal Judge Says

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge dismissed an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith claims against his homeowners insurer after determining that the insured failed to provide sufficient facts showing that the insurer breached its contract and acted in bad faith in its adjustment of the insured’s claim for damages caused by Hurricane Ida.
January 08, 2024
Breach Of Contract Claim Dismissed; Assignee’s Bad Faith Claim Proceeds, Judge Says

PHILADELPHIA — A breach of contract claim against a homeowners insurer cannot proceed because the assignee of the insureds failed to file suit within one year of the insureds’ loss as required by the policy; however, a bad faith claim against the insurer can proceed because the assignee has standing as an injured plaintiff and as a judgment creditor to pursue the bad faith claim, a Pennsylvania federal judge said in partially granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss.
January 05, 2024
Third-Party Bad Faith Claim Cannot Proceed Against Auto Insurer, Judge Says

TAMPA, Fla. — An auto insurer did not act in bad faith in failing to settle a claim on behalf of its insured, a Florida federal judge said after determining that no reasonable jury could conclude that the insurer acted in bad faith because the evidence shows that it made attempts to settle the claim against its insured.
January 05, 2024
Claimant Appeals Ruling On Standing To Bring Claims Against Auto Insurer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A third-party claimant filed a notice of appeal to the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking review of a Kansas federal judge’s finding that she lacks standing to bring breach of contract and bad faith claims against an auto insurer under a Kansas statute that governs claims against a decedent’s estate.
January 05, 2024
Florida Panel: Trial Court Erred In Finding Insured’s Bad Faith Claim Cannot Proceed

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A trial court erred in finding that an insured’s bad faith claim could not proceed based on the conclusion that no coverage is owed under the policy because the insured’s bad faith claim is based on the failure to properly and timely investigate the insured’s claim, a violation of Florida insurance law, the Fourth District Florida Court of Appeal said in reversing the trial court’s ruling.
January 04, 2024
Contractor’s Insurer Must Show It Was Prejudiced By Timing Of Claim Tender

SEATTLE — An insurer cannot deny coverage to an insured for a professional negligence claim arising out of additional expenses incurred by the insured on a construction project unless the insurer shows that the insured’s failure to tender the claim until after incurring the expenses caused the insurer to suffer actual and substantial prejudice, a Washington federal judge said in denying the insurer’s motion for summary judgment in a breach of contract and bad faith suit filed by the insured.
January 03, 2024
Federal Judge Denies Insureds’ Request For Immediate Appeal Of Bad Faith Ruling

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied a motion to certify a summary judgment ruling on a bad faith claim to allow the insureds to pursue an immediate appeal of the ruling after determining that judicial economy would not be served by allowing an interlocutory appeal.
January 03, 2024
Insureds’ Claims Fail Based On Failure To Satisfy Policy Condition, Judge Says

CINCINNATI — Breach of contract and bad faith claims alleged against a homeowners insurer in a dispute over coverage for fire damages cannot proceed because the insureds refused to submit to an examination under oath as required by the insurance policy, an Ohio federal judge said Jan. 2 in granting the insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings.
January 02, 2024
Committee Gets OK For Vote On Liquidation Plan In Vesttoo Chapter 11 Cases

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal bankruptcy judge who is allowing the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors to put its Chapter 11 plan of liquidation for Vesttoo Ltd. and 48 affiliates to a vote also granted its motions for leave to conduct discovery against two banking organizations.
January 02, 2024
Alleging Unpaid Claims, Iowa-Based Insurers Sue Foreign Reinsurer

DES MOINES, Iowa — Asserting a breach of contract claim and a bad faith claim, two members of the GuideOne family of insurance companies sued a China-based reinsurer for what they allege are its refusals to pay some valid claims for reinsurance reimbursement.
December 22, 2023
Ohio Panel Affirms Judgment For Insurer In Dispute Over Voided Homeowners Policy

CLEVELAND — An Ohio appellate court affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment to an insurer, an insurance agent and his agency in a breach of contract and bad faith suit related to the insurer’s voiding of a homeowners policy and refusing to pay a man’s fire damage claim, finding that there are no remaining issues of material fact and that the claims against the agent and his agency are time-barred under the statute of limitations.
December 19, 2023
Coverage Suit Over Faulty Breaker Installation Dismissed After Parties Settle

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California has dismissed with prejudice an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith suit against its insurer arising from the insurer’s refusal to indemnify the insured in an underlying property damage lawsuit stemming from the sale and installation of defective circuit breakers, granting the parties’ jointly filed motion for dismissal.
December 19, 2023
Unsecured Creditors Update Proposed Liquidation Plan In Vesttoo Chapter 11 Cases

WILMINGTON, Del. — The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors on Dec. 18 filed an amended proposed combined disclosure statement and Chapter 11 plan of liquidation for the jointly administered cases of Vesttoo Ltd. and 48 affiliates in Delaware federal bankruptcy court.
December 18, 2023
Pollution Liability Insurer Says Environmental Damage Claim Is Barred From Coverage

TRENTON, N.J. — A premises pollution liability insurer says in a motion to dismiss filed in New Jersey federal court that its insured’s breach its contract and bad faith suit must be dismissed because the policy at issue clearly excludes coverage for the environmental contamination remediation costs incurred by the insured municipality.
December 18, 2023
Flood Insurer Submits List Of Parties Remaining In Hurricane Ida Coverage Dispute

NEW ORLEANS — A flood insurer that was sued for breach of contract for its alleged failure to adequately cover claims related to Hurricane Ida submitted to a federal court a notice advising that the remaining parties are the insured, flood insurer and Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association (LIGA), as statutory successor for an insolvent homeowner’s insurer.
December 18, 2023
Panel Affirms More Than $25M Judgment Against Insurer In Construction Defects Suit

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s judgment of more than $25 million against a commercial general liability insurer, agreeing with the lower court’s finding that an insured breached its contract and acted in bad faith in refusing to defend its insured subcontractor and a general contractor, named as an additional insured, against underlying construction defects suits arising out of water damage to townhomes because the evidence shows that all of the parties believed that the policies provided coverage for completed operations.
December 15, 2023
Court ‘Wrongly Expanded’ Electronic Data Exclusion, Home Depot Tells 6th Circuit

CINCINNATI — Home Depot Inc. filed an appellant brief in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging an Ohio federal court’s finding that a commercial general liability insurance policy’s electronic data exclusion bars coverage for the retailer’s losses stemming from a 2014 data breach, arguing that the lower court “wrongly expanded the narrow electronic-data exclusion beyond its natural meaning, based on assumed facts outside the record.”
December 15, 2023
No Coverage Owed For $20M Wrongful Death Default Judgment, California Panel Affirms

SAN DIEGO — A California appeals panel held that an insured would not reasonably expect that his son’s conduct that resulted in a fatal shooting would fall under a homeowners insurance policy’s scope of coverage for an “accident” and outside the intentional acts exclusion, affirming a lower court’s ruling in favor of insurers in a breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying $20 million wrongful death default judgment.
December 15, 2023
Plaintiffs: Humana Uses Artificial Intelligence, Denies Senior Care In Bad Faith

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Humana Inc. denies elderly patients Medicare Advantage Plan coverage to which they are entitled through the employment of artificial intelligence in place of actual doctors, plaintiffs claim in a class action filed in a Kentucky federal court.
December 15, 2023
Insureds Breached Terms Of Policy By Failing To Provide Proof Of Loss, Judge Says

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Insureds’ claims for breach of contract and bad faith against their homeowners insurers in a dispute over damages and losses caused by a California wildfire cannot proceed because the insureds breached the terms of the insurance policy by failing to file a proof of loss for their personal property losses, a California federal judge said in granting the insurers’ motion for summary judgment.