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

Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

March 07, 2023
Insured Asks 9th Circuit To Reconsider Ruling In E&O Coverage Dispute

SAN FRANCISCO — An insured filed a petition for a panel rehearing and rehearing en banc challenging the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmation of a federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an insurer in a breach of contract lawsuit seeking errors and omissions coverage for the insured’s defense costs and damages stemming from a $5.7 million arbitration award.
March 07, 2023
Real Estate Trust, Insurer Voluntarily Dismiss Coronavirus Coverage Dispute

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A real estate trust insured and its insurer on March 6 filed a stipulation for voluntary dismissal with prejudice of the insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for its business interruption losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic.
March 06, 2023
Insured Opposes Insurers’ Motion To Reargue In Professional Liability Coverage Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — An insured opposed its insurers’ motion for reargument in a professional liability coverage dispute, arguing to a Delaware court that the insurers’ arguments challenging the judge’s grant of a retrial are “baseless” and should be rejected.
March 02, 2023
Government Seeks Exclusion For Almost Half Of Class In ACA Reinsurance Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arguing that close to half the entities certified as members of a class are not true SISAs — self-insured, self-administered employee health and welfare benefit plans — the government filed an objection on March 1 in a U.S. Court of Federal Claims case concerning the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
March 01, 2023
Amendment And Dismissal Fought After Jurisdictional Discovery In Fraud Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — Opposing recent motions in a case concerning an alleged scheme to transfer funds from a reinsurance trust to affiliated entities and “highly volatile hedge funds,” the plaintiffs tell a Delaware Chancery Court that the case should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute and certain defendants argue in part that a bid to file a fourth amended complaint “is procedurally improper, untimely, and futile.”
March 01, 2023
DOJ, New York Settle Medicaid Fraud Claims Against Nursing Home For $7.1M

NEW YORK — A New York nursing home, its owners and operators and landlord entered into a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and New York, agreeing to pay in total $7,168,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by submitting false claims to the Medicaid program for services not provided to residents.
March 01, 2023
Reinsurance Commutation Figures In Franchisee’s Negligence, Fraud Action

JACKSON, Miss. — Alleging negligence, fraud and breach of fiduciary duties in connection with “a corporate insurance and risk management program promoted, created, and put in place by Defendants for Domino’s Pizza franchisees,” a franchisee sued a corporation, a limited liability company and the two individuals who are members of the latter in a Mississippi federal court.
February 28, 2023
Sen. Grassley Urges High Court Reversal Of 7th Circuit In FCA Medicare Drug Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sen. Charles Grassley filed an amicus curiae brief in support of whistleblower qui tam petitioners asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decisions affirming judgments for pharmacies in consolidated cases alleging that the pharmacies were fraudulently overcharging Medicare, Medicaid and the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEP) for prescription drugs.
February 27, 2023
Insurers Reach Settlement In Coverage Dispute Over Music Festival Mass Shooting

WILMINGTON, Del. — The attorney of a commercial general liability insurer alerted a Delaware court on Feb. 24 that its client and the defendant insurer have reached a settlement in a coverage dispute over underlying lawsuits arising from the Oct. 1, 2017, mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival in Las Vegas.
February 24, 2023
Harvard Asks 1st Circuit To Find That It Complied With Policy’s Notice Provision

BOSTON — President and Fellows of Harvard College asked the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a lower federal court’s ruling in favor of its excess insurer in a coverage dispute over an underlying action alleging that its consideration of a student’s race in its college admissions process violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, arguing that it fulfilled its policy’s notice/reporting provision.
February 21, 2023
Insured, Insurer Seek Judgment On Breach Of Contract Claim, Number Of Occurrences

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — An insured and its excess insurer filed competing motions for summary judgment in a groundwater contamination coverage dispute with each party asking a California federal court to enter judgment on the insured’s breach of contract claim arising out of the insurer’s termination of coverage based on the insurer’s position that coverage is owed for only one occurrence under the applicable policies.
February 21, 2023
Chocolate Company Appeals Ruling In Coverage Suit Arising From Superstorm Sandy

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A chocolate company insured filed a notice of appeal challenging a New York federal court’s take-nothing judgment and denial of its renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law and motion for a new trial in a Superstorm Sandy coverage dispute.
February 21, 2023
Duke, Excess Insurer Seek Dismissal After Settlement Of Antitrust Coverage Dispute

ELIZABETH, N.C. — Duke University and its excess insurer filed a stipulation of dismissal in a North Carolina federal court after indicating last month that they “have reached a full and final settlement of all claims” in Duke’s lawsuit seeking a declaration that the insurer has a duty to cover its unreimbursed defense costs related to two underlying antitrust actions.
February 15, 2023
Reinsurer’s Receiver Notes Mortality Info, Mentions Liquidation Possibility

WILMINGTON, Del. — Higher-than-expected mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other causes is expected to require revisions to a proposed rehabilitation plan, the receiver for Scottish Re (U.S.) Inc. in Rehabilitation (SRUS) tells the Delaware Court of Chancery in a Feb. 14 letter.
February 15, 2023
Insurer Moves To Dismiss Amber Heard’s Counterclaim In Defamation Coverage Suit

LOS ANGELES — An insurer moved for a California federal court to dismiss Amber Heard’s breach of contract and bad faith counterclaims in its declaratory judgment lawsuit alleging that it has no duty to defend or indemnify Heard against an underlying defamation judgment awarded to Johnny Depp, contending that the insured “admittedly ‘refused to fully accept’ the defense” that it “rightfully provided” “through appointed counsel.”
February 14, 2023
Amendment And Dismissal Sought After Jurisdictional Discovery In Fraud Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — Following a Delaware Chancery Court directive for a status update in a case concerning an alleged scheme to transfer funds from a reinsurance trust to affiliated entities and “highly volatile hedge funds,” the plaintiffs moved for leave to file a fourth amended complaint, and certain defendants moved to dismiss for failure to prosecute.
February 14, 2023
Collateral And Judicial Estoppel Disputed In Insurer’s Suit Over Defense Costs

DETROIT — Opposing a reinsurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings that is based on collateral and judicial estoppel, an insurer argues in a Feb. 13 filing in Michigan federal court that the reinsurer “has omitted a number of important details” and neither doctrine applies in the declaratory judgment suit over defense costs.
February 14, 2023
Insulation Installer Gives Settlement Notice In Coverage Dispute Against Insurers

COLUMBIA, S.C. — An installer of insulation products, through its receiver, provided a South Carolina federal court with notice that it has negotiated a settlement with one of its insurers, with both parties agreeing to suspend litigation against one another in an asbestos liability suit filed against the installer’s insurers and a guaranty association.
February 09, 2023
Subcontractor Was Not An Additional Insured Under Policy, Insurer Argues

ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel should overturn a federal district court judge’s reduced attorney fee award in favor of a contractor’s counsel in a coverage lawsuit stemming from the law firm’s representation of the contractor in an underlying lawsuit over a subcontractor’s alleged defective stucco work on several homes in a subdivision because the subcontractor is not an additional insured under the contractor’s policy, the contractor’s insurer argues in an appellant brief filed in the 11th Circuit.
February 09, 2023
Dismissal Bid Disputed In Excess Loss Reinsurance Row With ERISA, Bad Faith Claims

PITTSBURGH — Parties in a suit over an excess loss reinsurance contract that was filed by a multiemployer plan that offers self-funded health insurance benefits and its trustees are disputing a dismissal motion, with filings in Pennsylvania federal court raising arguments including preemption and whether the defendants are fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
February 08, 2023
4 New Suits Challenge 2014 ACA Transitional Reinsurance Program Payments

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Alleging illegal exaction of contributions under the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), four entities that say they have self-insured, self-administered employee health and welfare benefit plans (SISAs) have filed separate suits in the U.S. Federal Claims Court against the government.
February 08, 2023
Judge: Church Did Not Stop All Operations; Civil Authority Coverage Not Triggered

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California judge held that a church insured did not stop all operations and, therefore, is not owed coverage under its insurance policy’s civil authority provision for its lost donations and income arising from the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent civil authority orders, granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment in the insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit.
February 02, 2023
Architect Appeals Summary Judgment Ruling In Chimney Fire Suit

NEW YORK — An architect will appeal a New York County Supreme Court justice’s ruling denying his motion for summary judgment on third-party claims brought against him in a subrogation lawsuit filed by an insurer stemming from damage caused by an improperly constructed chimney as part of a home renovation, according to a notice of appeal filed in New York state court.
February 02, 2023
Parties In Reinsurance Indemnification Row Brief Legal Standards For Discovery

TRENTON, N.J. — In supplemental briefing ordered by a New Jersey federal court, parties in a dispute over indemnification for asbestos bodily injury claims argue which legal standard should apply to a motion to compel discovery.
February 01, 2023
Choice-Of-Law Clause Argued In Supplemental Briefs In Self-Insurance Pool Case

DENVER —A Colorado federal magistrate judge ordered supplemental briefs in a school district’s suit over liability claim settlements under purported excess-of-loss reinsurance agreements, with the parties addressing a question about a choice-of-law clause.