Mealey's Insurance
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June 13, 2023
Insureds Failed To Show Motion To Strike Is Warranted In Mold Suit
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal magistrate judge denied a motion to strike’s a homeowners insurer’s motion to deem the insureds’ motion for interlocutory appeal withdrawn in a water and mold damage suit after determining that the insureds failed to show that they would be prejudiced if the motion to strike were denied.
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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.
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June 12, 2023
Pollution Liability Insurer Cannot Withhold Documents Prepared In Insured’s Defense
NEWARK, N.J. — A pollution liability insurer cannot assert attorney-client privilege or work product doctrine as a basis to withhold documents prepared while still involved in the defense of an underlying suit filed against its insured, a New Jersey federal magistrate judge said in partially granting the insured’s motion to compel.
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June 12, 2023
Pollution Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage For Underlying Water Contamination Suit
ELGIN, Ill. — The Second District Illinois Appellate Court reversed and remanded a trial court’s ruling that an insurer has no duty to defend its insured city in an underlying suit alleging that the city provided unsafe drinking water to its residents because the policies’ pollution exclusion applies only to traditional environmental contamination claims and the underlying suit against the insured does not allege a claim involving traditional environmental contamination.
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June 09, 2023
11th Circuit Rejects Subrogee Insurer’s Reliance On Concurrent Cause Doctrine
ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a federal district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer in a subrogee insurer’s lawsuit seeking indemnification for their mutual insured’s nearly $3.5 million in losses and remediation expenses arising from a joint venture that oversaw a construction project at a water reclamation facility, rejecting the subrogee insurer’s reliance on the concurrent cause doctrine.
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June 08, 2023
Panel Denies English Reinsurer’s Rehearing Bid In All-Sums Allocation Case
NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a petition for panel rehearing in which an English facultative reinsurer argued that the opinion “misreads the context” of one English case and “overlooked an English appellate decision reaching exactly the opposite conclusion” in a case concerning all-sums allocation of an environmental claims settlement.
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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.
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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.
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June 01, 2023
3rd Circuit Says Faulty Workmanship Is Not Occurrence, No Coverage Owed To Insured
PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal on May 31 reversed a district court’s ruling that an insurer must indemnify its insured for damages to natural gas wells caused by the insured’s fracking work because neither faulty workmanship nor failure to perform a contract in a workmanlike manner can be construed as an occurrence under the policy at issue.
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May 31, 2023
Appraisal Award For Mold Damages Confirmed By New York Federal Judge
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on May 30 confirmed an appraisal award of approximately $5,000 entered in favor of insureds whose home sustained mold damage following Superstorm Sandy, rejecting the insureds’ argument that the appraisal failed to comply with the court’s prior order regarding the terms of the appraisal.
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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.
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May 30, 2023
Policy Clearly Excludes Damages Caused By Surface Water, Federal Judge Says
DETROIT — No coverage is afforded for water damage in an insured home because the homeowners policy at issue clearly excludes coverage for damages caused by surface water, a Michigan federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment and dismissing the suit against the insurer.
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May 25, 2023
Counterclaims Against Excess Insurer In Explosion Coverage Suit Must Be Dismissed
TRENTON, N.J. — An insured’s counterclaims for breach of contract and bad faith alleged against its excess insurer, which relied on its policy’s total pollution exclusion to deny coverage for underlying suits arising out of an explosion set off by the use of the insured’s magnesium powder, must be dismissed for failure to allege sufficient facts in support of the claims, a New Jersey federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss.
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May 24, 2023
No Coverage Owed For Home’s Foundation Collapse, New Jersey Panel Affirms
TRENTON, N.J. — A trial court did not err in determining that an insured’s claim for the collapse of his home’s foundation is not covered because experts hired by both the homeowners insurer and the insured determined that the collapse was caused by water seepage and earth movement, both of which are excluded causes of loss under the policy, the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division said May 23.
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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.”
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May 23, 2023
No Coverage Owed For Discharges Into City Sewer System, Panel Says
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 22 affirmed a district court’s ruling that a pollution liability insurer owes no coverage to an insured for an underlying lawsuit alleging that the insured illegally discharged wastewater into a city sewage treatment facility because the underlying suit does not allege an occurrence for which coverage exists.
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May 23, 2023
2nd Circuit Upholds Ruling Against English Reinsurer In All-Sums Allocation Row
NEW YORK — In a May 22 ruling that represents its best guess as to what the United Kingdom Supreme Court would do, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld a decision against an English facultative reinsurer over all-sums allocation of an environmental claims settlement.
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May 22, 2023
Homeowners Appeal Ruling That Contractor’s Insurer Owes No Coverage For Mold Injuries
PHILADELPHIA — Homeowners and a contractor are appealing to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a federal judge in Pennsylvania’s determination that the contractor’s insurer owes them no coverage for personal injuries one of the homeowners sustained as a result of a mold infestation caused by the contractor’s negligent workmanship.
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May 22, 2023
Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Consolidated Class Actions Seeking Coronavirus Coverage
SEATTLE — In three rulings, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 19 affirmed a Washington federal judge’s ruling that granted insurers’ motion to dismiss consolidated class actions brought by western Washington businesses seeking coverage for lost income stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, agreeing that COVID-19 does not cause the physical loss or damage to the insureds’ property that is required to trigger coverage.
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May 22, 2023
Insured Says Policy Limit Applies For Each Year Of Policy For Environmental Claims
DETROIT — An insured counters in a response to an umbrella liability insurer’s motion for summary judgment filed in Michigan federal court that the plain language of a three-year policy provides that the policy’s $5 million limit applies separately to each of the policy’s three years for underlying environmental contamination suits filed against the insured and does not only provide one $5 million policy limit for all three years.
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May 22, 2023
Motion To Amend Complaint In Toxic Emissions Suit Denied; Bad Faith Claims Not Ripe
MIAMI — A Florida federal judge denied an insured’s motion for leave to amend its complaint to add claims for statutory and common-law bad faith against its insurer in a coverage dispute arising out of toxic emissions created by the insured’s practice of sugarcane burning after determining that the bad faith claims are not yet ripe as the court has not resolved the issue of damages.
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May 19, 2023
Excess Insurer’s Policies Provide Only Duty To Indemnify, Not Defend, Judge Says
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — An excess insurer’s policies only require the insurer to indemnify its insured for covered claims and does not require the insurer to defend against claims, a California federal judge said in partly granting the excess insurer’s motion for summary judgment in a groundwater contamination coverage suit.
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May 18, 2023
Insurer Says No Coverage Due For Costs Incurred As A Result Of Oil Pipeline Rupture
DALLAS — An insured is not entitled to coverage for cleanup and remediation costs incurred as a result of a crude oil pipeline rupture because the excess policy at issue contains a pollution endorsement that bars coverage for the costs incurred by the insured, a second-layer excess liability insurer maintains in a complaint filed in Texas federal court.
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May 18, 2023
Insurer Says District Court Erred In Finding Bacteria Exclusion Is Ambiguous
RICHMOND, Va. — A district court erred in finding that a primary insurer owes a duty to defend its insured against an underlying suit arising out of exposure to Legionella bacteria at an insured hotel because the phrase “good or product intended for bodily consumption” as used in the policy’s bacteria exclusion is not ambiguous, the primary insurer contends in its appellant brief filed in the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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May 18, 2023
5th Circuit Panel Denies Panel Rehearing In Mold Coverage Suit
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for panel rehearing filed by insureds and refused to reconsider its finding that a mold exclusion in a homeowners policy bars coverage for the insureds’ mold damages.