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Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

  • October 28, 2025

    Justin Baldoni, Movie Studios Move To Toss Insurer’s Suit In Favor Of Other Forum

    NEW YORK — Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios LLC, It Ends With Us Movie LLC and its movie studio officers have asked a New York federal court to dismiss or stay their management liability insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to provide coverage for Blake Lively’s sexual harassment, hostile work environment and retaliation action, arguing that it is “sufficiently more efficient” for the insurer to join a related lawsuit that they filed in a California state court against three of their other insurers.

  • October 28, 2025

    Insurer, City Seek Dismissal Of Coverage Suit Arising From Wrongful Conviction

    DURHAM, N.C. — Following a settlement of all claims, a commercial general liability insurer and the city of Concord, N.C., filed a joint stipulation on Oct. 27 asking the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina to dismiss with prejudice the city’s breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit alleging that the insurer has a duty to defend, indemnify and contribute to a $9.3 million settlement of an underlying wrongful conviction lawsuit.

  • October 27, 2025

    Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage For Rat Bite Fever Lawsuit, Insurer Says

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — No coverage is owed for an underlying lawsuit filed by a tenant of an insured who alleges that she and her child sustained bodily injuries as a result of a rat infestation in her rental unit because the policy’s organic pathogens exclusion and total pollution exclusion bar coverage for the underlying suit, an insurer says in an Oct. 24 complaint filed in Florida federal court.

  • October 27, 2025

    5th Circuit Argument Set In Appeal Of Fees Award To NFL Disability Claimant

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has scheduled Dec. 3 oral argument in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act appeal where the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan challenges an award of more than $1.25 million in attorney fees and costs to a former National Football League player who sought a higher level of disability benefits than he had been awarded, and the former player counters that the issue “was forfeited long ago.”

  • October 24, 2025

    NRA Seeks High Court Review Of Reversal In Free Speech Suit Over Insurance Program

    NEW YORK — The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals holding that a former superintendent of the New York department that regulates insurance is entitled to qualified immunity on the NRA’s First Amendment coercion and retaliation claims against New York state officials and the department, challenging the panel’s reversal of a lower federal court’s order denying the former superintendent and the department’s motion to dismiss the NRA’s suit alleging that she unconstitutionally threatened or coerced an insurer or other entities to stifle its speech.

  • October 23, 2025

    Homeowners Argue District Court Erred In Finding Insurer Didn’t Act In Bad Faith

    SAN FRANCISCO — In their opening brief filed in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, several homeowners, as assignees of a developer, argue that the Ninth Circuit should reverse a federal judge in Washington’s dismissal of their case alleging that a general liability insurer breached its duty to defend and indemnify the developer for claims arising from the developer’s defective construction of the homeowners’ houses; they specifically argue that the lower court erred in ruling that the insurer did not act in bad faith.

  • October 23, 2025

    Insurer Argues It’s Not Required To Defend Against Negligence Allegations

    FLORENCE, S.C. — A commercial general liability insurer filed a complaint in federal court in South Carolina seeking a declaratory judgment that it does not have to defend two construction companies in an underlying complaint alleging that the companies’ installation of siding and trim led to water intrusion and damages to townhomes.

  • October 23, 2025

    Construction Company Sues Insurer For Denying Coverage Based On Wrong Exclusion

    LOS ANGELES — A construction company sued its insurer and insurance broker in California state court, arguing that the insurer breached its contract by not defending it in an underlying complaint against the company alleging construction defects in the building of five houses; the company argues that the insurer wrongly denied coverage based on a condominium construction exception.

  • October 21, 2025

    Insurer Argues Court Should Not Amend Judgment As To Defective Bin Coverage

    INDIANAPOLIS — A grain equipment company’s insurer argues that a federal court in Indiana should not grant a grain production firm’s motion to alter or amend a partial summary judgment order in favor of the insurer in which the judge held that some of the claimed losses for the repair and replacement of leaky grain storage bins related to a contractual dispute rather than to coverage liability; the insurer argues that the judge correctly found that “the grain bins did not sustain ‘property damage’ as defined (and required) by the Policy.”

  • October 21, 2025

    Insurer: No Connection Between Subcontractor’s Work, Company’s Liability

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A subcontractor’s insurer says that a federal court in California should grant its motion to dismiss a construction company’s third amended complaint (TAC) against it alleging that it wrongly denied the coverage for claims brought against the company by a builder for damages the company alleges were caused by using the subcontractor’s drawings for the project, arguing the company provides no connection between the subcontractor’s work and the company’s liability.

  • October 21, 2025

    Tax Firm Seeks To Compel IRS Record Filing, Citing Order In Parallel Case

    DALLAS — A tax firm filed a notice of supplemental authority in a Texas federal court in support of its pending motion to compel the Internal Revenue Service to file the administrative record in its challenge to the agency’s final rule on microcaptive insurance arrangements, citing a judge’s order in a parallel case involving the same final rule that directed the IRS to produce the administrative record.

  • October 21, 2025

    BlueCross, Excess E&O Insurer Stipulate To Dismiss Bad Faith, Breach Of Contract Suit

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — Capital BlueCross and its excess errors and omissions insurer filed a stipulation in a Pennsylvania federal court seeking dismissal with prejudice of Capital BlueCross’ breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from an underlying antitrust multidistrict litigation.

  • October 17, 2025

    Insurers, New Orleans Property Owners Settle $7M Hurricane Claim

    NEW ORLEANS — A group of foreign and domestic insurers and two New Orleans property owners jointly moved in Louisiana federal court to dismiss with prejudice the property owners’ claims for bad faith and for payment of approximately $7 million in damages to their properties caused by Hurricane Ida under surplus line insurance policies, after the court vacated a prior order compelling arbitration following a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling on the arbitrability of insurance claims.

  • October 17, 2025

    Insurer Says Subcontractor’s Arguments Rejected, Shouldn’t Be Reconsidered

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — An insurer opposed a subcontractor’s motion for reconsideration of a Kentucky federal judge’s finding that the subcontractor was required to release its counterclaims as part of a global settlement regarding the construction of off-campus student housing and the judge’s grant of summary judgment on the insurer’s behalf, arguing that the court has already rejected the subcontractor’s arguments.

  • October 15, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Defective Wine Coverage Dispute After Winemaker, Insurer Settle

    SEATTLE — The same day a commercial winemaker and an excess commercial general liability insurer filed a notice of settlement, a federal judge in Washington dismissed the coverage dispute arising from an underlying faulty vinification lawsuit over allegedly defective wine.

  • October 15, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Coverage Dispute Over Claims Insured Falsely Markets Milk Product

    CHICAGO — Four days after an insurer filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, a federal judge in Illinois on Oct. 14 dismissed without prejudice the insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify Fairlife LLC against an underlying putative class action alleging that it markets its milk products through false or misleading statements.

  • October 15, 2025

    California ‘Insurer Of Last Resort’ Sued For Alleged Wrongful Denial Of Claim

    LOS ANGELES — A homeowner whose property is covered by the California FAIR Plan sued the insurance pool in state court, alleging that the state’s “insurer of last resort” unlawfully denied coverage for fire, smoke and contamination damage in violation of California insurance law after his home was damaged in the Eaton Fire.

  • October 14, 2025

    Insurance Holding Company Sues Captive Operator, Seeks Preliminary Injunction

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An insurance holding company seeks a preliminary injunction in a Florida federal court against a captive operator and its associated entities it accuses of counterfeiting its name and trademarks to sell fake commercial insurance policies through two purported captive programs; in a concurrent complaint, the insurance holding company alleges direct, contributory and vicarious trademark infringement under the Lanham Act and unfair competition under several state common laws and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief.

  • October 14, 2025

    Insurer Dismisses Coverage Dispute Over Claims Insured Falsely Markets Milk Product

    CHICAGO — An insurer voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit asking an Illinois federal court to declare that it has no duty to defend or indemnify Fairlife LLC against an underlying putative class action alleging that it markets its milk products through false or misleading statements.

  • October 14, 2025

    Subcontractor Seeks Reconsideration Of Summary Judgment In Coverage Dispute

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A subcontractor filed a motion for reconsideration of a federal judge in Kentucky’s finding that it was required to release its counterclaims as part of a global settlement regarding the construction of off-campus student housing and the judge’s grant of summary judgment on an insurer’s behalf, arguing that the dismissal of the subcontractor’s bad faith counterclaim hadn’t been negotiated and agreed to as part of that global settlement.

  • October 13, 2025

    Insurer Appeals Judgment In Indemnification Suit Arising From Hurricane Zeta Damage

    NEW YORK — A defendant insurer appealed a New York federal court’s findings that it has a duty to defend against underlying actions arising from damages caused when Hurricane Zeta’s winds purportedly caused a tower crane that was working on top of a New York construction project to become loose and “spin” and that it has a duty to indemnify the plaintiff insurer for $476,575.25 in costs arising from the underlying claims.

  • October 13, 2025

    Insurer Appeals Dismissal Of Suit Disputing Coverage For Sexual Assault Claims

    DENVER — A commercial general liability insurer notified a Colorado federal court on Oct. 10 that it is appealing the court’s dismissal of its lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that it has no duty to defend or indemnify the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) for a Paralympic swimmer’s lawsuit alleging that a team member sexually assaulted and harassed him and that USOPC failed to warn his parents about the team member or to supervise the accused, challenging the court’s finding that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction.

  • October 10, 2025

    Insurer Disputes Coverage For Suit Alleging Insured Falsely Markets Milk Products

    CHICAGO — An insurer filed suit in a federal court in Illinois seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify Fairlife LLC against an underlying putative class action alleging that it markets its milk products through false or misleading statements, arguing that the runoff exclusion bars coverage.

  • October 10, 2025

    Group Home Appeals No Coverage Ruling For Underlying Negligence Suit

    DULUTH, Minn. — The operators of a group home notified a Montana federal court that it is appealing the court’s holding that a commercial general liability insurer has no duty to defend them against an underlying negligence lawsuit and that they are not entitled to attorney fees, challenging the court’s ruling that no coverage was triggered because the underlying complaint alleges only mental injuries and not bodily injury, sickness or disease.

  • October 06, 2025

    15 States Urge High Court To Accept Review Of Jurisdictional Issue In PFAS Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should grant certiorari to review an insured’s appeal of a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that vacated a district court’s decision to remand a declaratory judgment claim and to retain jurisdiction over breach of contract and bad faith claims in a dispute over coverage for underlying per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure suits because the issue is one that divides the circuits, Ohio and 14 other states say in an Oct. 3 amicus curiae brief.