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Mealey's Insurance Bad Faith

  • October 07, 2025

    No Coverage For Drain Line Piping That Could Fail In Future, Judge Says

    SAN ANTONIO — A Texas federal judge granted an insurer’s motion for summary judgment on a portion of an insured’s breach of contract claim related to coverage for repair costs incurred following a water leak at an insured restaurant because the policy at issue does not require the insurer to pay for drain line piping that may fail in the future.

  • October 07, 2025

    Insureds Appeal Take-Nothing Judgment In Coverage Dispute Arising From Storm Damage

    TYLER, Texas — Insureds filed a notice indicating that they are appealing a Texas federal court’s take-nothing judgment in favor of a commercial property insurer in a coverage dispute arising from property damage that was caused by a wind and hailstorm.

  • October 06, 2025

    Common-Law Bad Faith Claim In Storm Damage Suit Will Proceed, Judge Says

    SAN ANTONIO — An insured’s common-law bad faith claim alleged against a homeowners insurer can proceed because a question of fact exists regarding the reasonableness of the insurer’s investigation of the storm damage incurred at the insured’s home; however, a portion of the insured’s claim alleging violation of the Texas Insurance Code cannot proceed because the insured failed to show that the insurer made a misrepresentation on which the insured relied, a Texas federal judge said in partially granting and partially denying the insurer’s motion for summary judgment.

  • October 03, 2025

    Federal Judge: Insurer Entitled To Rescission, Would Have Breached Duties Otherwise

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois determined that an insurer was entitled to rescind a directors, officers and corporate liability insurance policy in a telecommunications business insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from underlying allegations under the Illinois False Claims Act (IFCA), concluding that the insurer would have breached its duties to defend and indemnify the insured had it not been entitled to rescission.

  • October 03, 2025

    Bad Faith Coverage Case Dismissed After Insurer Granted Summary Judgment

    ABILENE, Texas — A Texas federal judge adopted a magistrate judge’s recommendation to grant summary judgment to an insurer and dismiss with prejudice a policyholder’s breach of contract, bad faith and statutory claims arising from a hail damage coverage dispute, finding that the policyholder failed to distinguish covered hail damage from noncovered causes under Texas’ concurrent causation doctrine.

  • October 03, 2025

    Insured Fails To Show How Auto Insurer’s Conduct Constitutes Bad Faith, Judge Says

    SCRANTON, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge dismissed without prejudice a bad faith claim alleged against an auto insurer after determining that the insured’s complaint fails to provide sufficient facts detailing how the insurer’s refusal to tender the policy limit constitutes bad faith.

  • October 02, 2025

    11th Circuit Says Auto Insurer Did Not Act In Bad Faith In Handling Insured’s Claim

    ATLANTA — A district court properly entered summary judgment in favor of an auto insurer because the insured’s assignee failed to show that the insurer acted in bad faith in investigating an auto accident in which its insured was involved or in handling settlement negotiations on behalf of its insured, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said.

  • October 01, 2025

    Judge: Insurer Properly Asserted Collusion In Case Brought After Defective Work

    DENVER — A federal judge in Colorado granted an insurer’s motion for summary judgment of a townhome management company, as subrogee for a contractor’s complaint against it for insurance bad faith regarding the coverage of an underlying action the company brought against a contractor for alleged defective construction work in repairing the townhome community’s buildings’ roofs, gutters and siding; the judge found that the facts establish that a Nunn agreement between the company and the contractor was the result of collusion.

  • October 01, 2025

    Judge: Misappropriation Of Funds Exclusion Bars Professional Liability Coverage

    FRESNO, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted a professional liability insurer’s motion for summary judgment in an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for underlying claims alleging that the insured conducted a negligent background check on a client’s potential employee, ruling that the policy exclusion for “misappropriation of funds” unambiguously bars coverage.

  • September 30, 2025

    Insured Appeals Federal Court’s Ruling That Flood Damage Claims Are Time-Barred

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — An insured filed a notice appealing a Louisiana federal court’s ruling that her claims for flood damage caused by Hurricane Delta and a separate flood event are time-barred under a Standard Flood Insurance Policy (SFIP) and must be dismissed with prejudice, challenging the court’s grant of the insurer’s motion for summary judgment on her claims for breach of contract and bad faith.

  • September 29, 2025

    Judge Rules For Final Insurer In Bad Faith Suit Arising From Construction Defects

    DENVER — A federal judge in Colorado granted the last remaining defendant insurer’s motion for summary judgment in a  plaintiff insurer’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking recovery of the defense and settlement costs that it paid on behalf of its general contractor insured in an underlying construction defects lawsuit but denied the defendant insurer’s request for attorney fees because the lawsuit was not frivolous.

  • September 29, 2025

    Unit Owner Has No Right Of Action Against Insurer, Louisiana Panel Affirms

    GRETNA, La. — The Louisiana appeals panel concluded that a condominium unit owner does not enjoy a third-party beneficiary status and has no right of action against a commercial line insurer, affirming a lower court’s judgment sustaining the insurer’s peremptory exceptions and dismissing the unit owner’s breach of contract and bad faith claims in a Hurricane Ida coverage dispute.

  • September 29, 2025

    N.Y. Federal Judge Tosses Cafe Owner's Bad Faith Claim On Duplicity Grounds

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted an insurer’s partial motion to dismiss a cafe owner’s breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing claim against it, finding that it is duplicative of the cafe owner’s breach of contract claim because both are based on the same alleged refusal by the insurer to pay business interruption losses following a gas services shutdown.

  • September 24, 2025

    Tractor Damage Not Covered; Breach Of Contract, Bad Faith Claims Fail, Panel Says

    BOISE, Idaho — A trial court did not err in granting summary judgment to a homeowners insurer in a breach of contract and bad faith suit stemming from a dispute over coverage for a damaged tractor because the tractor was not damaged as a result of an impact with a vehicle as required under the policy, the Idaho Court of Appeals said.

  • September 24, 2025

    Insureds Fail To Support Bad Faith Claims Alleged Against Insurer, Judge Says

    DENVER — A Colorado federal judge determined that common-law and statutory bad faith claims alleged against a property insurer in a hail damage coverage dispute must be dismissed without prejudice because the insureds failed to include sufficient factual material in support of the claims.

  • September 23, 2025

    Insurer Answers Bad Faith Complaint In California Storm Damage Coverage Suit

    LOS ANGELES — Following a California court’s ruling that overruled its demurrer to an insured’s claim for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and denied its motion to strike all references to punitive damages, an insurer filed its answer to the insured’s first amended complaint in a coverage dispute over storm damage.

  • September 23, 2025

    Jury Properly Instructed On Causation In Bad Faith Suit Against Insurer, Panel Says

    TAMPA, Fla. — A trial court did not err in instructing a jury that to find that an auto insurer acted in bad faith, the jury must find that the insurer’s bad faith conduct was the cause of a $13.5 million excess verdict entered against an insured, the Second District Florida Court of Appeals said.

  • September 22, 2025

    Appellants Argue Reinsurer Was ‘De Facto Insurer’ In $844M Crash Coverage Appeal

    MIAMI — Survivors of a 2016 plane crash and representatives of the deceased filed a brief in a Florida appellate court, arguing that a reinsurer acted as a “de facto insurer” and that state law accordingly permits them to pursue independent bad faith and coverage claims despite a trial court’s dismissal of their amended complaint that sought to enforce approximately $844 million in consent judgments.

  • September 22, 2025

    Following Mediation, Parties In D&O Excess Coverage Dispute Reach ‘Total Impasse’

    MIAMI — A mediator told a Florida federal court on Sept. 19 that an excess directors and officers liability insurer and a law firm participated in mediation and failed to resolve the law firm’s lawsuit seeking payment for its legal representation of the insured in underlying criminal and civil lawsuits.

  • September 18, 2025

    Fla. Company’s Bad Faith Claim Dismissed, Breach Of Contract Claim Continues

    TAMPA, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida granted in part and denied in part a commercial general liability insurer’s motion to dismiss a concrete paver company’s complaint against it for not defending it in an arbitration regarding defective pavers, finding that the concrete paver’s breach of contract claim was not premature but that its bad faith claim was premature because a determination of coverage in the underlying action has not been made.

  • September 18, 2025

    Policyholder’s Remand Motion Denied, Claims Against State Farm Agent Dismissed

    OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma federal judge denied a policyholder’s motion to remand and dismissed without prejudice her claims against her insurance agent and agency, ruling that they were fraudulently joined in her complaint because she received the replacement cost policy she requested, her alleged damages arose only from a claim denial and her fraud-based claims against the agent failed as a matter of law.

  • September 17, 2025

    Parties Reach Settlement To Resolve All Remaining Claims In Reinsurance Dispute

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The two remaining parties in a suit involving reinsurance and related agreements notified a California federal court that they have reached a final settlement, resolving all outstanding claims and providing for the distribution of funds held by the court.

  • September 16, 2025

    After Settlement Negotiations, Magistrate Orders Conference In Coverage Dispute

    INDIANAPOLIS — After being advised of ongoing settlement negotiations in an underlying case, an Indiana federal magistrate judge ordered the parties to attend a telephonic status conference to discuss the suit filed by an insurer now in rehabilitation seeking a declaration that specified directors and officers (D&O) policies apply to cover claims in underlying litigation.

  • September 16, 2025

    Countertop Manufacturer Seeks Coverage For Underlying Silica Bodily Injury Suits

    LOS ANGELES — An insured manufacturer and distributor of countertops and countertop products filed suit in California state court, claiming that its insurers breached their contracts of insurance and acted in bad faith in relying on their policies’ pollution and silica exclusions to deny coverage for underlying silica-exposure bodily injury suits in which the insured is named as a defendant.

  • September 15, 2025

    Summary Judgment Denied For Insurer In Fabric Water Damage Coverage Dispute

    BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge denied summary judgment to an insurer in a breach of contract and bad faith suit filed against it by its insured, a “high-end” fabric retailer seeking coverage for water damage, finding that “summary judgment is not appropriate” in part because of remaining questions as to whether the insured voided the policy pursuant to a fraud provision regarding alleged “bogus” estimates of damage.