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

Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

October 16, 2023
Insurer Appeals Ruling That Negligence Claim Against Engineer Is Time-Barred

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A subrogated homeowners insurer has appealed to the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a federal judge in Wyoming’s ruling that its claim against the engineer that designed a home’s plumbing is time-barred by the two-year statute of limitations for professional negligence claims as the claim began to run when the engineer submitted the final design plans.
October 16, 2023
Parties In Breach, Bad Faith Lawsuit Spar Over Dismissal Arguments

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — In separate replies addressing the plaintiff’s contentions that it is not an insurer and that the policies at issue are not reinsurance, defendants in an Alabama federal suit over reimbursement for workers’ compensation claims reiterate their arguments for dismissing the breach of contract, bad faith, laches and equitable estoppel claims against them.
October 13, 2023
High Court Grants Cert For Insurer’s Challenge To Kaiser Gypsum Asbestos Bankruptcy

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 13 granted a petition for certiorari filed by the primary insurer of Chapter 11 asbestos debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. over a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that the insurer lacks standing to challenge the debtors’ reorganization plan.
October 11, 2023
SEC Seeks To Compel Musk’s Testimony In Twitter Investigation

SAN FRANCISCO — The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an application in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California for an order to compel Elon Musk to testify as part of an SEC investigation into his 2022 purchase of stock in Twitter Inc., saying Musk refused to comply with an administrative subpoena in September after having agreed to testify in May and called the subpoena harassment.
October 11, 2023
Maritime Insurer, Insured Argue Choice-Of-Law Issue To U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 10, the attorney representing a maritime insurer argued that the forum-selection clause in a maritime insurance policy is enforceable as a matter of law in a dispute 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?”
October 10, 2023
Insured Claims Property Insurer Owes Additional Coverage For Water Damage

LOS ANGELES — An insured filed suit in California state court against its property insurer, seeking a declaration that the insurer owes additional coverage to repair a property damaged when water pipes burst in the building and alleging that the insurer breached its contract and acted in bad faith by refusing to release additional fund for repairs.
October 10, 2023
Insured Condo Association Appeals Pollution Exclusion Ruling To 11th Circuit

ATLANTA — An insured filed a notice of appeal to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking review of a Georgia federal judge’s ruling that an insurer owes no coverage for underlying suits filed by residents of a condominium building who claim that they were injured as a result of fumes exhausted from a backup power generator because the policies’ pollution exclusions bar coverage.
October 06, 2023
Hotel Seeks Dismissal Of Insurer’s Suit Disputing Coverage For Trafficking Claims

ATLANTA — Moving to dismiss an insurer’s complaint, an insured hotel operator argues in Georgia federal court that a commercial general liability insurance policy’s “Abuse or Molestation” and “Assault or Battery” endorsements are inapplicable to an underlying lawsuit alleging that it did not uphold its duty of care concerning the safety of its hotel and hotel guests by failing to prevent and respond to evidence of sex trafficking.
October 05, 2023
Oregon High Court Urged To ‘Quash Confusion,’ Clarify ‘Occurrence’ Requirement

SALEM, Ore. — Saying a commercial general liability insurer’s respondents’ brief “illustrates precisely why clarification of Oregon law on the interpretation of ‘occurrence’ is needed,” homeowners urge the state Supreme Court to “clarify that ‘occurrence’ is interpreted by the words used to define it and that ‘accident’ and ‘exposure’ turn on the facts of what happened, without regard to the legal theory of liability that might be later applied to those facts in a legal proceeding.”
October 05, 2023
Parties Make Dismissal Arguments In Crop Insurance Row Over Long-Pending Claims

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Arguing that “if this case is not ripe, it never will be,” plaintiffs who sued over crop insurance claims that they say have not been adjusted in more than three years mostly opposed a dismissal motion filed in Michigan federal court by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC).
October 05, 2023
Fronting Company Sues Captive Reinsurer Over $2.2M In ‘Misdirected Payments’

NEW YORK — Seeking to hold a captive reinsurer responsible for a penalty, a fronting company has sued in New York federal court over what it calls $2,207,896 in misdirected payments.
October 04, 2023
Insurer Asks 8th Circuit To Reconsider Remand Of Coronavirus Coverage Suit

ST. LOUIS — An insurer seeks rehearing or rehearing en banc of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that reversed and remanded a coronavirus coverage lawsuit for an Iowa federal court to determine whether federal diversity jurisdiction exists, arguing that the panel “expressly rejected the principle of federal law that parties are bound by their concessions of jurisdictional facts.”
October 04, 2023
Parties Spar Over Motion To Dismiss Counterclaim In Purported Reinsurance Row

HONOLULU — Asserting in a reply brief that it is “critically important” for the terms of a reinsurance agreement to be memorialized in writing, a plaintiff expanded on its arguments for a Hawaii federal court to dismiss a breach of contract counterclaim in a dispute over a purported reinsurance policy.
October 02, 2023
Insurer Agrees To Dismiss Contamination Coverage Suit Following Settlement

ATHENS, Ga. — A commercial general liability insurer agreed to dismiss its suit filed against its insured and others in Georgia federal court and seeking a declaration that its policy’s pollution exclusion bars coverage for an underlying contamination and public nuisance suit arising out of the disposals made by the insured at a landfill after reaching a settlement with its insured and the other named defendants.
October 02, 2023
Kaiser Gypsum Insurer Says Cert Needed For Dispute Over Standing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that the primary insurer of Chapter 11 asbestos debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. lacks standing to challenge the debtors’ reorganization plan “exacerbates a conflict among the [U.S. circuit courts] and defies the straightforward text of the Bankruptcy Code,” the insurer says in a reply brief in support of its petition for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court.
September 27, 2023
Music Festival Organizer Seeks $2.8M For Losses Arising From Tuscany Storm

PHILADELPHIA — An insured that organized a three-day music festival in Tuscany sued its insurer for breach of contract, declaratory relief and bad faith in a Pennsylvania federal court, seeking coverage under an Event Cancellation Policy for its alleged $2.8 million in losses caused by severe weather.
September 26, 2023
Insurer: Ruling ‘Sharply Conflicts’ With Dupree, Warrants High Court Review

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An insurer asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that there is enough evidence for a jury to reasonably conclude that it acted in bad faith because it delayed acting on its duty to investigate and settle the underlying worker injury claim, asserting that the appeals court’s holding “sharply conflicts” with the high court’s recent ruling in Dupree v. Younger and warrants grant of its petition for writ of certiorari, vacatur of the lower court’s judgment and remand for further consideration.
September 20, 2023
Homeowner Sues Insolvent Insurer Over Failure To Cover Hurricane Damages

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A homeowner filed a breach of contract suit against his insolvent homeowners insurer, alleging that the insurer failed to compensate him for damages caused by Hurricane Ian.
September 20, 2023
Insurer, Insureds, Amici Debate ‘Occurrence’ Requirement Before Oregon High Court

SALEM, Ore. — A commercial general liability insurer urged the Oregon Supreme Court to affirm lower court rulings that it owed no duty to indemnify its insured contractor for damages awarded in an underlying construction defect arbitration, rejecting the homeowners’ argument that the high court should distinguish or clarify Oak Crest Construction v. Austin Mut. Ins. Co., on which the lower courts relied in finding that because that contractor’s liability arose from a breach of contract, there was no “occurrence” and, thus, no coverage for the property damage.
September 19, 2023
Insurers Cross-Appeal In Coverage Dispute With Home Depot Over 2014 Data Breach

CINCINNATI — Insurers filed cross-appeal notices in an Ohio federal court two weeks and one day after their mutual insured, Home Depot, appealed to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals the lower court’s finding that an insurance policy’s electronic data exclusion bars coverage for the retailer’s losses stemming from a 2014 data breach (The Home Depot, Inc., et al. v. Steadfast Insurance Co., et al., No. 21-00242, S.D. Ohio, Western Div.).
September 19, 2023
Insurer Says Pollution, Lead Exclusions Bar Coverage For Lead Exposure Suit Claims

BUTTE, Mont. — No coverage is owed to an insured for an underlying third-party complaint alleging that the insured’s negligence in installing a water well contributed to injuries sustained by tenants who consumed the well water because the policies’ exclusions for pollution and lead bar coverage, an insurer says in a complaint filed in Montana federal court.
September 19, 2023
Remand To Florida Court Argued In Coverage Row Over Leased Aircraft

MIAMI — Arguing in a reply brief that “in lawsuits between parties of different countries, there is no federal diversity jurisdiction,” plaintiffs in a coverage dispute over aircraft that a Russian airline refused to return after the invasion of Ukraine urge a Florida federal court to remand the case to Florida state court.
September 19, 2023
Insurer Moves To Transfer Leaky Roof Suit After Winning Partial Summary Judgment

AUSTIN, Texas — A week after winning partial summary judgment in a breach of contract case related to its bankrupt and deceased subcontractor insured’s responsibility for damages stemming from work on a roof, a commercial general liability insurer filed an unopposed motion to transfer a breach of contract suit against it from one federal court in Texas to another.
September 15, 2023
Unsecured Creditors In Vesttoo Chapter 11 Case Want To Conduct Discovery

WILMINGTON, Del. — Arguing that it “is the only independent fiduciary capable of conducting a thorough and conflict-free investigation,” the Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the jointly administered Chapter 11 case of Vesttoo Ltd. and 48 affiliated entities on Sept. 14 asked a Delaware federal bankruptcy court for leave to conduct discovery.
September 13, 2023
Judge: Insurance-Home Sale Connection Claims Save AI Claims Handling Case

CHICAGO — The theory that homeowners insurance constitutes a service connected to the sale of a home pushes the Fair Housing Act (FHA) to its boundaries but meshes with precedent, a federal judge in Illinois said in partially denying a motion to dismiss in a case alleging that an insurer’s artificial intelligence disproportionately flags claims by Black policyholders for greater scrutiny.