Mealey's Insurance Pleadings : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

June 13, 2023
Relators Raise SuperValu In 8th Circuit Appeal Of Qui Tam Crop Insurance Row

ST. LOUIS — Relators who are asking the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse vacation of judgment in a qui tam crop insurance case now contend that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision “makes it clear” that a Minnesota federal court’s interpretation of “knowingly” “is not the correct legal standard.”
June 13, 2023
Amici Argue In Favor Of Insurer In High Court Appeal Of Marine Coverage Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Four amici curiae, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, filed briefs in support of a maritime insurer’s petition for writ of certiorari that the high court limited to the question: “Under federal admiralty law, can a choice of law clause in a maritime contract be rendered unenforceable if enforcement is contrary to the ‘strong public policy’ of the state whose law is displaced?”
June 13, 2023
Bifurcated Settlement Proposed For 1 Defendant In SEC Suit Over Alleged Fraud

DURHAM, N.C. — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on June 12 asked a North Carolina federal court to approve a bifurcated settlement it negotiated with one of three defendants in a civil suit over a former investment advisory firm’s alleged “series of fraudulent and improper schemes” that defrauded clients of more than $75 million.
June 13, 2023
Partial Production Of Arbitration Record Compelled In Suit Over Defense Costs

DETROIT — With a motion for declaratory judgment pending in a suit over defense costs, a Michigan federal judge has granted a reinsurer’s motion to compel partial, redacted production of a separate arbitration record.
June 12, 2023
Umbrella Insurer Says Only 1 $5M Limit Applies To 3-Year Policy

DETROIT — An umbrella insurer contends in a response to its insured’s cross-motion for summary judgment filed in Michigan federal court that its three-year policy includes only one $5 million limit for underlying environmental contamination suits filed against the insured and not separate $5 million limits for each year of the policy.
June 12, 2023
Insurers Seek Dismissal Of Appeal Over Partial Stay Of Adversary Proceeding

NEW YORK — Arguing lack of subject matter jurisdiction, appellees asked a New York federal court to dismiss an appeal seeking to overturn a New York federal bankruptcy judge’s order partially staying an adversary proceeding filed by the joint provisional liquidators (JPLs) of Bermuda insurer and reinsurer PB Life and Annuity Co. Ltd. (PBLA) and other debtors.
June 12, 2023
Parties In Reinsurance Dispute File Briefs On Ultimate Net Loss Provision

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Parties in a complex breach of contract suit over reinsurance billings filed new briefs on June 9 addressing just one claim at the direction of the Alabama federal court; specifically, they dispute the interpretation of a contract provision regarding ultimate net loss and whether it applies to $385,546.03 the insurer incurred in a suit against its errors and omissions (E&O) carrier.
June 08, 2023
Appellants Dismiss Sleep Injury Coverage Dispute After Settlement Reached

ATLANTA — Appellants on June 7 filed an agreed motion to dismiss in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after the parties reached a settlement of a coverage dispute over an underlying professional negligence lawsuit arising from an injury that allegedly occurred following a sleep study.
June 08, 2023
Architect Fails To Assert Property Damage Caused By Occurrence, Insurer Counters

CHICAGO — Responding to an architectural company insured’s appeal in a coverage dispute over claims of “defective, incomplete and architectural problems” with an Iowa building for which it was hired to provide architectural services, a commercial general liability insurer asserts that the insured “seeks to avoid the weight of decades of state and federal case law applying Illinois law to construction defect coverage disputes.”
June 08, 2023
Condo Developer Urges Court To Deny JMOL Or New Trial In Slab Coverage Suit

DENVER — The developer of a condominium project “presented sufficient evidence” to support a jury’s $2.54 million damages after its builders risk insurer denied coverage for a cracked concrete slab, and although the verdict “may not have been perfect, there was no irreconcilable inconsistency that justifies a new trial,” the developer tells a federal court in Colorado in responses to the insurer’s motions for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) and a new trial.
June 06, 2023
Former NFL Player Alleges NFL Disability Plan Breached Fiduciary Duty

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A former National Football League player alleges in a complaint filed in Florida federal court that the NFL’s disability plan breached its fiduciary duty by failing to consider the former player’s claim for total and permanent disability benefits and by concealing that the player was eligible for the benefits when he submitted an application for disability benefits in 2006.
June 06, 2023
STD Benefits Owed Under Company’s Self-Funded Plan, Disability Claimant Says

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The denial of a claim for short-term disability (STD) benefits under an employer’s self-funded disability plan was an abuse of discretion, a disability claimant says in a complaint filed in North Carolina federal court seeking a finding that benefits are owed.
June 06, 2023
Disability Claimant Alleges STD Benefits Were Wrongfully Terminated By Plan Insurer

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A disability claimant filed suit in Ohio federal court against his former employer, a disability plan and the plan’s insurer, asking the court to find that the insurer wrongfully terminated his short-term disability (STD) benefits and that he continues to be entitled to STD benefits and long-term disability (LTD) benefits.
June 05, 2023
Insurer Responds To Condo Owner’s Washington High Court Appeal In Collapse Dispute

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A commercial property insurer asked the Washington Supreme Court to affirm an appeals court’s finding that a condominium owners association insured failed to provide evidence of an “abrupt or sudden falling down of any part of a building such that it could not be occupied for its intended purpose” to trigger policy coverage, arguing that the insured does not explain how previous state and federal court decisions create a conflict with the appeals court’s ruling.
June 05, 2023
Primary Insurers Say Insured Interfered With Settlement Of Asbestos Claims

FORT WORTH, Texas — Primary insurers of an insured named in underlying asbestos bodily injury lawsuits allege in an amended complaint filed in Texas federal court that their insured breached its contracts of insurance by interfering with the primary insurers’ duty to indemnify the insured for settlements of some of the underlying suits in an attempt to force the primary insurers to continue defending the insured for the underlying claims.
June 02, 2023
Roofer’s Insurer Seeks Reconsideration Of Declaratory Judgment Suit Dismissal

PHILADELPHIA — An insurer that is seeking reconsideration of the dismissal of its declaratory relief action stemming from two negligence and faulty work lawsuits against its roofing contractor insured has informed a federal court in Pennsylvania that the underlying actions have settled, further supporting its position for reconsideration.
June 01, 2023
Insurer Seeks Washington High Court Review Of Condensation Damage Coverage Dispute

OLYMPIA, Wash. — An all-risk insurer seeks Washington Supreme Court review of an appeals court ruling that reversed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in its favor in a coverage dispute stemming from condensation damage to a condominium owner’s roof, arguing that the appeals court interpreted the resulting loss exception to the policy’s faulty workmanship exclusion “in a manner that renders the exclusion meaningless and is in conflict with” Washington high court and appeals court rulings.
June 01, 2023
Remand To Hawaii State Court Urged In Lawsuit Over Purported Reinsurance

HONOLULU — The plaintiff in a dispute over a purported reinsurance policy asked a Hawaii federal court to remand the case “in light of the double presumptions against removal jurisdiction and fraudulent joinder.”
May 31, 2023
Contractor’s Insurer Seeks New Trial Or Reconsideration In Water Intrusion Suit

NEW ORLEANS — An insurer proceeding as subrogee of its contractor insured seeks a new trial or, in the alternative, reconsideration of a Louisiana federal judge’s ruling dismissing its suit against a subcontractor’s insurer to recover damages it paid stemming from water damage caused by the subcontractor’s negligence in performing work on a home’s roof, arguing that because it filed an amended complaint after the subcontractor’s insurer filed its motion to dismiss, which the subcontractor’s insurer answered, the motion to dismiss was moot when it was granted.
May 31, 2023
Court Properly Found No Coverage Owed For Raw Sewage Injury Suit, Insurer Says

BOSTON — A district court properly found that an insurer is entitled to reimbursement for defense costs paid on behalf of its insureds and has no duty to contribute to the settlement of a bodily injury suit stemming from an employee’s contact with raw sewage because the policy’s fungi and bacteria exclusion clearly precludes coverage, the insurer says in an appellee brief filed in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
May 25, 2023
En Banc Review Of D&O Coverage Dispute Is Warranted, Insured Tells 4th Circuit

RICHMOND, Va. — An insured filed a petition in the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking en banc review of the panel’s opinion earlier in May that vacated and remanded a lower federal court’s ruling that a “bump-up” exclusion does not unambiguously preclude directors and officers liability insurance coverage for the $90 million settlement of two underlying lawsuits arising from a 2015 merger, challenging the panel’s holding that the lower court “adopted an unduly narrow reading” of the exclusion.
May 25, 2023
Insurer Seeks JMOL Or New Trial In Slab Coverage Suit; Amicus Cannot Weigh In

DENVER — A federal judge in Colorado has denied an insurance association’s motion to appear as amicus curiae in support of an insurer that seeks judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) or a new trial after a jury found that it breached the terms of a builders risk policy issued to a real estate developer when it denied coverage for a cracked concrete slab at a condominium project.
May 24, 2023
Some Claims In Coverage Row Over Afghan Facility Are Stayed After Injunction

NEW YORK — An English court has entered an anti-suit injunction regarding certain claims in a New York federal lawsuit over whether what the plaintiffs obtained for a facility in Afghanistan is insurance or reinsurance and whether any fraud or negligence was involved, and those claims have now been stayed in the U.S. court.
May 24, 2023
Insurer Seeks JMOL Or New Trial After $170,000 Verdict In Water Damage Suit

MOBILE, Ala. — In the wake of a nearly $170,000 verdict against it in an insurance dispute over the handling of a property damage claim after Hurricane Sally, an insurer has filed a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial, arguing that an insured church failed to establish that its claimed losses were covered under the policy, that the insured’s expert testimony was not reliable and that the “jury instructions were incomplete.”
May 22, 2023
Exterior Insulation And Finish Exclusion Bars Coverage, Insurer Reiterates

ATLANTA — A subcontractor’s insurer reiterated its argument to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that its policy’s exterior insulation and finish (EIFS) exclusion barred coverage for an underlying construction defects judgment, arguing that if an appellee insurer’s counterargument is not waived for being brought up for the first time on appeal, it should be rejected because the appellee fails to cite case law or the policy’s interpretation of “products-completed operation hazard.”