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Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

  • May 20, 2025

    Fighting Fees, NFL Plan Urges 5th Circuit To Say Disability Claimant Had No Success

    NEW ORLEANS — In its appellant brief urging the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse an award of more than $1.25 million in attorney fees and costs, the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan called the award “an unprecedented expansion of the availability of attorney’s fees to ERISA litigants who do not succeed on any legal claim and obtain no judicial relief.”

  • May 20, 2025

    Insured Files Amended Complaint In Silica Dust Exposure Coverage Suit

    LOS ANGELES — An insured filed an amended complaint in California federal court to provide an updated list of the underlying bodily injury suits filed against it stemming from silica dust exposure from the insured’s products and reiterating its claims for breach of contract, bad faith and declaratory judgment against its insurer.

  • May 20, 2025

    Underlying Plaintiff Says Coverage Owed For Disposal Of Construction Debris

    ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — An insurer has a duty to defend its insureds in an underlying suit stemming from the insureds’ alleged improper disposal of construction debris because the underlying suit against the insureds alleges an occurrence for which coverage is afforded under the policy, the underlying plaintiff says in its reply in support of its cross-motion for summary judgment.

  • May 19, 2025

    Delaware Court Asked To Dismiss Primary, Excess Insurer From D&O Coverage Dispute

    WILMINGTON, Del. — An insured and its primary and excess insurers filed a stipulation asking a Delaware court to dismissed the two insurers from the insured’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking directors and officers and entity securities liability insurance coverage for an underlying appraisal action, indicating that a settlement has been reached between them.

  • May 19, 2025

    Coverage Owed For Water Damage, Surplus Lines Insured Says In Amended Complaint

    ATLANTA — A surplus lines insurer breached its contract and acted in bad faith in denying an insured’s claim for damages to a number of apartment units damaged as a result of frozen water pipes that burst, an insured says in its amended complaint filed in Georgia federal court.

  • May 15, 2025

    IRS Moves To Dismiss Microcaptive Rule Challenge, Claiming Lack Of Jurisdiction

    DALLAS — In a challenge to a final rule in which the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and U.S. Treasury Department require reports for certain purported microcaptive insurance arrangements, the IRS moved in a Texas federal court to dismiss a tax consulting firm’s amended complaint, asserting that it acted within its statutory authority, that the court lacks jurisdiction, that the tax firm fails to state an actual controversy and that the suit is barred under the Declaratory Judgments Act (DJA).

  • May 14, 2025

    Former Physician’s Assistant Whose LTD Benefits Were Nixed Sues For Reinstatement

    LYNCHBURG, Va. — Suing the claims administrator that terminated his long-term disability (LTD) benefits, a former emergency room physician’s assistant who says he “underwent a PET/CT scan that indicated Alzheimer’s dementia” argues in part that discovery from other lawsuits has shown that the insurer’s reviewer “denies 85-90% of all disability claims she reviews.”

  • May 13, 2025

    Insurer Appeals Dismissal Of Subrogation Claims In Suit Over Ransomware Attack

    WILMINGTON, Del. — An insurer filed a notice indicating it is appealing a Delaware judge’s grant of an application service provider’s motion to dismiss with prejudice its amended complaint, challenging the judge’s finding that it failed to properly assert subrogation claims seeking recovery from the provider for the amount paid to nonprofit insureds for investigative and remediation steps arising from a ransomware attack.

  • May 13, 2025

    After LTD Case Remand To Plan, Parties Dispute Attorney Fee Request

    SAN FRANCISCO — Parties in a long-term disability (LTD) benefits case are disputing a $139,650 attorney fee request, with the claimant contending that “a remand for further administrative proceedings is not a trivial success where it is based on a court determination that ERISA rights were violated,” and the defendant arguing in part that no award is warranted under Hummel v. S.E. Rykoff & Co.

  • May 12, 2025

    Hotel Owner Seeks Review Of No Coverage Ruling In Dispute Over Derecho Damage

    ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — A hotel owner told an Illinois federal court that it is appealing the court’s April 3 judgment in favor of a businessowners insurer in its  breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for damage to the hotel arising from a 2020 derecho, challenging the court’s finding that it failed to provide prompt notice of the claim.

  • May 07, 2025

    Breach Of Contract, Declaratory Judgment Counterclaims Filed Against Reinsurer

    NEW YORK — A life insurer and its parent company filed two counterclaims in a federal court in New York, seeking declaratory judgment on the definition of a lapsed client under its transaction agreement with a reinsurer and alleging a breach of contract for the reinsurer’s alleged failure to cooperate in reviewing documents related to a disputed $50 million post-closure bonus payout.

  • May 07, 2025

    Coverage Barred For Insured’s Disposal Of Asbestos-Containing Debris, Insurer Says

    ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — No coverage is owed for an underlying suit stemming from the insureds’ alleged improper disposal of construction debris because the policy’s asbestos and pollution exclusions clearly bar coverage, an insurer maintains in a reply in support of its motion for summary judgment and opposition to the underlying plaintiff’s cross-motion for summary judgment.

  • May 06, 2025

    U.S. Opposes Summary Judgment, Dismissal In Captive Insurance Tax Shelter Dispute

    PITTSBURGH — The U.S. government asked a federal court in Pennsylvania to reject a Pittsburgh-based corporation’s motion to dismiss the government’s counterclaim and motion for summary judgment, arguing that the company’s reliance on a prior U.S. Supreme Court ruling is misplaced in a dispute over penalties tied to the corporation’s alleged promotion of a tax shelter through a purported captive insurance program.

  • May 06, 2025

    Policyholder’s Motion To Intervene Was Untimely, Life Insurer’s Rehabilitator Says

    WATERBURY, Conn. — The rehabilitator of life insurer PHL Variable Insurance Co. and the subsidiaries that reinsure its liabilities urged a Connecticut state court to deny as untimely a motion to intervene filed by two policyholders who say their policies are worth millions and want a moratorium order to be modified to pay death benefits on a pari passu basis.

  • May 05, 2025

    Insurer Seeks 11th Circuit Review Of Lawyers’ Professional Liability Coverage Suit

    ATLANTA —A professional liability insurer asked the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a lower federal court’s dismissal of its lawsuit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify an attorney and law firm against an underlying legal malpractice lawsuit, arguing that “oral argument would materially assist” the 11th Circuit “in understanding the proper application of the misappropriation exclusion” in its policy.

  • May 05, 2025

    Homeowners Appeal Order That They Weren’t Beneficiaries Of Contractor’s Insurance

    GREENSBORO, N.C. — Homeowners in North Carolina have appealed to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals an order by a federal judge in North Carolina who found they had no standing to bring a suit against their waterproofing company’s insurer after the company’s work allegedly caused damage to their property.

  • April 30, 2025

    On Remand From Supreme Court, 4th Circuit Approves Kaiser Debtors’ Reorganization

    RICHMOND, Va. — The plan of reorganization of Chapter 11 debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. was proposed in good faith and satisfies the asbestos bankruptcy requirements of Section 524(g) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held April 29 in affirming the plan’s confirmation on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • April 30, 2025

    Legionnaires’ Suit Not Subject To Arbitration, Reinsured Entity Says

    DETROIT — A reinsured entity is opposing a motion to dismiss in a Michigan federal court filed by the defendants in a lawsuit over claims related to Legionnaires’ disease, arguing that the defendants improperly invoked an arbitration provision and failed to seek concurrence before filing and that the underlying issues fall outside the arbitration provision because they stem from an unprocured and undisclosed agreement.

  • April 30, 2025

    Residents Sue State-Mandated Insurer ‘Of Last Resort’ Over Los Angeles Wildfires

    LOS ANGELES — California residents sued the California Fair Plan Association (CFPA) and its largest members in a state court seeking damages for the defendants’ alleged bad faith breach of their property insurance policies following the Los Angeles wildfires in January.

  • April 30, 2025

    Assignee Seeks To Appeal Suit Against Insurance Agency To Pennsylvania High Court

    PHILADELPHIA — An insured’s assignee filed a petition in a Pennsylvania court asking for allowance to appeal the court’s ruling that affirmed a lower court’s grant of an insurance agency’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in its breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying wrongful death settlement, challenging the court’s finding that the suit is barred by the statute of limitations.

  • April 29, 2025

    Insurer Asks 5th Circuit To Reconsider Ruling In Bad Faith Suit Over Hurricane Laura

    NEW ORLEANS — An insurer on April 28 asked the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider the part of its ruling that affirmed a lower federal court’s judgment in favor of a church insured in a bad faith lawsuit arising from Hurricane Laura damage, challenging the appellate court’s findings as to jurisdiction, appraisal and policy valuation and bad faith.

  • April 28, 2025

    Former Surgeon, Insurer Stipulate To Dismissing Suit For LTD Benefits

    TYLER, Texas — After previously reporting that they were “working on finalizing” an unspecified settlement, the parties in a former surgeon’s suit for long-term disability (LTD) benefits and relief for alleged mishandling of her claim on April 25 filed a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice in a Texas federal court.

  • April 25, 2025

    Oral Argument Set In Challenge To Rehab Plan For Workers’ Comp Insurer

    SAN FRANCISCO — Oral argument is scheduled in the First District California Court of Appealin a workers’ compensation insurance carrier’s challenge to a nonconsensual rehabilitation plan that was approved as part of conservation proceedings brought by California’s insurance regulator and includes resolution of dozens of reinsurance participation agreement (RPA) lawsuits.

  • April 23, 2025

    Contractors’ Insurers Appeal Ruling That Subcontractors’ Acts Caused Water Leak

    NEW ORLEANS — A general contractor’s insurers on April 22 filed notice that they are appealing a Louisiana federal judge’s ruling granting summary judgment to two subcontractors who were responsible for installing a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system and the subcontractors’ insurers after finding that the plaintiff insurers failed to show that the subcontractors’ acts or omissions caused or contributed to a water leak in the HVAC system.

  • April 23, 2025

    Underlying Plaintiff Says Asbestos, Pollution Exclusions Do Not Preclude Coverage

    ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — An insurer owes a duty to defend and indemnify its insureds in an underlying suit stemming from the insureds’ alleged improper disposal of construction debris because the policy’s asbestos and pollution exclusions do not bar coverage as the underlying suit alleges other potentially covered claims, the underlying plaintiff maintains in a cross-motion for summary judgment and in a response to the insurer’s motion for summary judgment.