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May 21, 2026
BOISE, Idaho — After reaching a settlement in February following a judge’s dismissal of bad faith counterclaims filed by a construction company and seller of property, the parties to a coverage dispute over fire damage that occurred after a construction worker discarded oil-soaked rags filed a stipulation of dismissal in Idaho federal court.
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May 21, 2026
AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge granted in part and denied in part an insurer’s motion to dismiss a pool construction company’s suit against it stemming from two underlying suits for property damage and construction defects, finding that the company provided sufficient allegations to plausibly support the company’s claims for breach of contract and bad faith, but not its claims for declaratory relief or under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) or the Texas Insurance Code.
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May 21, 2026
NEW YORK — Briefing before the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has concluded in a disability benefits appeal centered on a residual disability provision, with the appellees arguing in their answering brief that the trial court correctly concluded that the provision was not ambiguous and permitted termination of the benefits at age 65, and the beneficiary contending in his reply brief that the parties’ “competing interpretations demonstrate that the Provision is susceptible to more than one reasonable meaning, which is sufficient to establish ambiguity under New York law.”
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May 21, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — In a reply brief filed in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, homeowners argue that an insurer in its appellee brief repeats a lower court’s structural error: “no indemnity, therefore no other claims”; the homeowners say that once a developer tendered its complaint, which triggered the duty to defend, the insurer was required to perform claim-handling obligations.
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May 20, 2026
PADUCAH, Ky. — A reinsurer and a ferrosilicon producer filed summary judgment motions in a Kentucky federal court in a pollution cleanup cost coverage dispute, with the reinsurer seeking dismissal of all claims against it on the basis that it is only an indemnity reinsurer with no contractual duties to the producer and the producer seeking rulings that its insurer and the reinsurer must cover more than $4.6 million in disputed claim costs, plus future regulatory compliance costs, under a pollution legal liability policy.
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May 19, 2026
LOS ANGELES — An insured filed a motion to stay its silica coverage suit pending in California federal court until the underlying silica bodily injury suits are resolved, noting that a stay would prevent the insured from having to litigate on two fronts.
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May 18, 2026
PHOENIX — Noting that a policyholder’s third lawsuit stemming from a denied claim for roof damage is “not the charm,” an Arizona federal judge granted a homeowners insurer’s motion for summary judgment on breach of contract and bad faith claims after determining that the insured does not have standing based on the insured’s assignment of rights to a third party.
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May 15, 2026
SEATTLE — The operators of three Denny’s franchises and their executive officer and director sued their primary and excess commercial general liability insurers in a Washington federal court for breach of contract, bad faith, declaratory relief and violations of Washington’s Insurance Fair Conduct Act and Consumer Protection Act, alleging that they had to fund the defense and $425,000 resolution of an underlying wage-and-hour class action after the insurers walked away from the mediation.
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May 15, 2026
BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana federal judge denied a third-party claimant’s motion to amend the amount of a judgment entered in a bad faith suit against an insurer after determining that the claimant waived her right to seek prejudgment interest on the original amount of an underlying state court judgment when she filed the instant bad faith suit against the insurer.
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May 15, 2026
SHREVEPORT, La. — Breach of contract and bad faith claims alleged against a homeowners insurer in a water damage coverage dispute will proceed because questions of fact exist as to whether the insured maintained the heat in the home at the required temperature in accordance with the policy’s reasonable care requirement, a Louisiana federal judge said.
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May 15, 2026
NEW YORK — An insured’s breach of contract and bad faith suit stemming from a dispute over coverage for storm damage to the insured’s property cannot proceed because the insured failed to file suit within two years of the date of the damage as required by the policy’s two-year suit limitations provision, a New York federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings and dismissing the insured’s suit with prejudice.
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May 14, 2026
JACKSON, Miss. — An earth movement exclusion clearly bars coverage for foundation damage caused by a burst water pipe and an additional coverage provision for loss of land stability does not apply to the insureds’ loss, a Mississippi federal judge said in granting an insurer’s motion to dismiss the insureds’ extracontractual claims.
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May 14, 2026
DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court denied an insured’s petition for rehearing of the high court majority’s ruling that a Colorado statute does not bar two auto insurers from asserting that their insured breached the duty to cooperate under the applicable policies.
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May 13, 2026
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied a homeowners insurer’s motion to dismiss bad faith, declaratory relief and unfair competition law (UCL) claims alleged by insureds who seek coverage for damages to their home and contents caused by wildfire smoke and ash because the insureds adequately allege that the insurer withheld benefits in bad faith, that a coverage dispute exists and that ongoing coverage may be owed.
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May 12, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Louisiana denied an insurer’s motion for judgment as a matter of law or for a new trial following a jury’s finding that it acted in bad faith in its handling of the church insured’s claim arising from Hurricane Ida property damage, refusing to disturb a $4,567,441.68 final judgment entered against the insurer.
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May 11, 2026
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on May 8 conditionally granted mandamus relief to relator insurers, holding that a lower court abused its discretion in denying the insurers’ motion to compel appraisal of their insureds’ flood damage loss to a food distribution warehouse because the record amply establishes that the parties’ disagreement is at least partly about the insureds’ amount of loss.
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May 08, 2026
DENVER — A Colorado federal magistrate judge on May 7 granted in part a motion to compel discovery of certain text messages sent by a woman whose company sued its business owner’s insurer for breach of contract for its purported failure to cover a claim for fire damage to her retail store, finding in part that privacy considerations related to the text messages are outweighed by the need to view them in connection with an arson investigation related to the fire.
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May 08, 2026
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The assignee of a stable owner insured notified a Florida federal court that its recently reopened bad faith lawsuit seeking to recover from an insurer a $3.2 million consent judgment arising from the settlement of an underlying fraud action will proceed to mediation later this year.
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May 08, 2026
NEW YORK — A reinsurer filed a notice of supplemental authority urging a New York federal court to confirm two arbitration awards and reject an intergovernmental risk pool’s Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) vacatur challenge, arguing that recent reinsurance arbitration rulings involving comparable arbitration provisions held that arbitral reliance on insurance and reinsurance custom and practice, rather than rules of law, does not establish a basis for vacatur.
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May 08, 2026
CINCINNATI — Saying in part that the administrator of a long-term disability (LTD) plan “adequately considered the evidence . . . and arrived at a reasoned decision,” a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 7 affirmed judgment against a project director who stopped working because of symptoms she attributed to long COVID, was denied LTD benefits and then unsuccessfully asserted breach of contract and bad faith claims; the panel also affirmed the lower court’s denial of the claimant’s requests for both broad and limited discovery.
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May 06, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California issued a pretrial order on an insurer’s declaratory relief claims and the insured’s remaining counterclaims for breach of contract, violation of California Business and Professions Code Section 17200 and declaratory relief five days after ruling on cross-motions for summary judgment that the insurer had a continuing duty to defend its insured even after the defamation claim in the underlying lawsuit was dismissed.
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May 06, 2026
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware judge held that a directors and officers liability insurer must indemnify Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. for $16.35 million in disgorgement and $3.76 million in prejudgment interest in connection with an underlying settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, rejecting the insurer’s argument that the disgorgement amount is uninsurable as a matter of public policy.
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May 05, 2026
NEW YORK — A New York federal magistrate judge granted an insured’s motion for leave to file an amended complaint in an environmental contamination coverage dispute after determining that a bad faith claim in the proposed amended complaint is not duplicative of the insured’s breach of contract claim because the bad faith claim is based entirely on the insurer’s handling of the insured’s claim.
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May 04, 2026
TACOMA, Wash. — Claims alleging bad faith and violations of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act (CPA) and Washington’s Insurance Fair Conduct Act (IFCA) against an auto insurer can proceed because questions of fact exist as to whether the auto insurer’s conduct in handling the insured’s claims was reasonable, a Washington federal judge said in denying the insurer’s motion for partial summary judgment.
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May 04, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — Breach of contract and bad faith claims alleged against a homeowners insurer that denied an insured’s claim for fire damage can proceed because the insured alleged sufficient facts in support of both of the claims, a Pennsylvania federal judge said in denying the insurer’s motion to dismiss and to strike certain portions of the complaint.