Mealey's Insurance Pleadings : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Insurance Pleadings

April 23, 2025
Policyholder Asks To Intervene, Contest Benefits Cap In Insurer Rehabilitation

WATERBURY, Conn. — A corporate policyholder holding $18 million in death benefits from a life insurer in rehabilitation moved to intervene in a Connecticut state court action, seeking involvement in future proceedings and participation in discovery, arguing that a moratorium order capping payout at $300,000 per insured policy imposes a disproportionate financial burden and violates priority rules under state insurance law.
April 23, 2025
Class Action Alleges Toyota, Progressive Violated Federal Wiretap Act

SHERMAN, Texas — A class action was filed in a Texas federal court alleging Toyota Motor North America Inc., Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. and a provider of data analytics services in the automotive industry violated the Federal Wiretap Act and seeking to hold the defendants responsible for the injuries they inflicted on tens of thousands of class members because of their unauthorized collection and dissemination of private information from Toyota vehicles.
April 22, 2025
Homeowners Accuse Insurers Of ‘Nefarious Conspiracy’ In Suit Arising From Wildfires

LOS ANGELES — California homeowners affected by the Los Angeles wildfires sued insurers in a California court for violations of the state’s Cartwright Act and unfair competition law (UCL), alleging that the insurers participated in a “nefarious conspiracy to eliminate competition between them, and to intentionally and systematically force Plaintiffs to obtain fire insurance from the state’s insurer of last resort.”
April 22, 2025
Discovery Spat In Bad Faith Indemnity Row Involves Reserve, Reinsurance Information

STATESVILLE, N.C. — In a reply brief urging a North Carolina federal court to compel certain discovery, the plaintiff in a bad faith suit over an excess liability insurer’s alleged duty to indemnify argues, among other things, that the insurer “makes bare assertions that reserve information and communications with reinsurers are subject to attorney-client privilege or attorney work product protection on a categorical basis.”
April 22, 2025
Insurers Owe Coverage For Environmental Contamination, Remediation Costs, IBM Says

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Insurers of International Business Machines Corp. owe coverage for more than $900 million in costs incurred by IBM to remediate environmental contamination discovered at or near IBM’s manufacturing facilities because the policies under which IBM seeks coverage do not include a pollution exclusion and provide coverage for property damage caused by an occurrence, IBM says in a complaint filed in New York federal court.
April 21, 2025
Insured Seeks Coverage For More Than $50M In Losses Caused By Coronavirus

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A limited partnership that owns and operates shopping centers containing outlet stores sued its primary and excess insurers for declaratory relief and breach of contract in a North Carolina court, alleging that the lawsuit is “necessitated” by the insurers’ failure and refusal to indemnify it for “tens of millions of dollars in losses” caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
April 18, 2025
Suquamish Tribe Opposes Insurers’ High Court Petition In Tribal Jurisdiction Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Suquamish Tribe in Washington filed an opposition to insurers’ petition for writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine “whether a tribal court can exercise jurisdiction over nonmembers of the tribe based on off-reservation conduct,” asking the high court to not disturb the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ opinion that affirmed a federal court’s finding that a tribal court has subject matter jurisdiction over a COVID-19 coverage suit involving tribal properties on tribal land.
April 18, 2025
Captive Insurance Manager Seeks IRS Rule Injunction, Alleges Agency Overreach

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Invoking both the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act), a captive insurance manager filed a complaint in a federal court in Tennessee challenging an Internal Revenue Service final rule targeting small captive tax avoidance schemes, requesting that the regulation be set aside as unlawful, arbitrary and capricious and an overreach of statutory authority.
April 17, 2025
Plaintiffs Lack DUFTA Standing, Insurance Holding Company Says In Delaware Court

WILMINGTON, Del. — Arguing that the plaintiffs in a putative class suit lack standing to bring a Delaware Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (DUFTA) claim, an insurance holding company and its affiliates seek summary judgment in the Delaware Chancery Court over an alleged scheme to strip capital from an insurance subsidiary on which many policyholders depend for long-term care (LTC) disability benefits.
April 16, 2025
Insureds Seek Coverage For 11 Suits Alleging Human Trafficking At Red Roof Hotels

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Insured hotel companies sued their general liability insurer in an Ohio federal court for breach of contract and bad faith, alleging that the insurer arbitrarily and capriciously denied coverage for 11 underlying lawsuits alleging that human trafficking occurred at various Red Roof hotels.
April 15, 2025
NFL Plan To 5th Circuit: Let Fee Award Appeal Proceed In Disability Benefits Row

NEW ORLEANS — Telling the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the issues raised are not “grounds for dismissal” and that it “could not have forfeited an appeal of the new fee award and opinion before they existed, when the case was in the opposite posture,” the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan on April 14 asked to be allowed to proceed with its appeal of an award of more than $1.25 million in attorney fees and costs to a former National Football League player.
April 15, 2025
Engineer To 4th Circuit: Affirm Ruling In Long COVID Disability Benefits Case

RICHMOND, Va. — Contending in part that de novo review was correctly applied because of an “inexcusable failure to issue a timely decision,” a long-term disability (LTD) benefits claimant urged the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a judgment that she is owed past-due benefits because long COVID symptoms have disabled her from working as an engineer.
March 20, 2025
Insurer To 4th Circuit: Overturn Ruling In Long COVID Disability Benefits Case

RICHMOND, Va. — Arguing that the lower court improperly applied de novo review and wrongly concluded that the claimant showed that she is disabled from working as an engineer because of long COVID symptoms, an insurer urged the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a judgment that the claimant is owed past-due long-term disability (LTD) benefits.
April 15, 2025
Bad Faith Suit: CFPA Systematically Failed To Investigate, Pay Wildfire Claims

LOS ANGELES — Plaintiffs sued California Fair Plan Association (CFPA) and its “largest” members for breach of contract and bad faith in a California court, seeking compensation for their losses incurred by the January Los Angeles wildfires and to hold CFPA “accountable for its decade-long, systematic failure to properly investigate and pay wildfire claims.”
April 15, 2025
Skechers Seeks Coverage For Injury Claims Caused By Shoes’ Lack Of Slip-Resistance

LOS ANGELES — Skechers USA Inc. sued its commercial liability insurer in a California court for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and unfair competition, alleging that the insurer has a duty to defend it against an underlying action contending that class members were harmed by actual physical accidents caused by the insured’s shoes’ lack of slip-resistance or by the fact that the shoes were unusable.
April 14, 2025
Insured Dismisses 1 Insurer In Coverage Dispute Over Earplug Product Liability Claims

WILMINGTON, Del. — Plaintiffs and one of their liability insurers filed in a Delaware court a stipulation and proposed order of voluntary dismissal with prejudice of all claims between them in a coverage lawsuit arising from an underlying earplug product liability multidistrict litigation that resulted in a $6 billion settlement and millions of dollars in defense costs.
April 14, 2025
Dismissal Bid Fought In Dispute Over Disability Policy ‘Age 65’ Language

PHOENIX — Arguing in part that the defendants’ “desired interpretation runs counter to the well-pleaded facts, the parties’ expectations, any reasonable consumer’s expectations, and decisional law,” a plaintiff on April 11 urged an Arizona federal court to deny dismissal of his putative class complaint over whether certain individual long-term disability (LTD) benefits must be paid through eligible insureds’ 65th birthdays.
April 14, 2025
Potbelly Sandwich Shop Owner Sues Employment Practices Liability Insurer

SEATTLE — The owner and operator of several Potbelly Sandwich Shops in Washington state sued its employment practices liability insurer in a Washington court, alleging breach of contract and seeking a declaratory judgment that the insurer has a duty to defend and indemnify it against an underlying putative class alleging that it violated the Washington Equal Pay and Opportunities Act by not providing wage and salary information to job applicants in Washington.
April 09, 2025
Dismissal Or Stay Sought In Row Involving Legionnaires’ Under Reinsurance Contract

DETROIT — Citing an arbitration provision that is part of a reinsurance agreement, defendants in a suit over claims concerning Legionnaires’ disease moved in Michigan federal court for dismissal or, alternatively, a stay pending arbitration.
April 08, 2025
Disability Insurer Urges 11th Circuit To Affirm Any-Occupation Ruling

ATLANTA — Noting the role that social media posts played and arguing that the appellant’s evidence was not overlooked and the opinions of her doctors were not ignored, a disability insurer urges the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold its termination of benefits as “based on substantial evidence, including multiple medical reviews, an uncontested vocational assessment identifying alternative occupations, and inconsistencies in [her] self-reported physical tolerances.”
April 08, 2025
Insurers: ‘Had SCE Acted Responsibly, The Eaton Fire Could Have Been Prevented’

LOS ANGELES — Insurers have filed a subrogation lawsuit alleging negligence and inverse condemnation against Southern California Edison Co. (SCE) in a California court, alleging that the Eaton fire could have been prevented had the defendant acted responsibly.
April 07, 2025
Silica, Pollution Exclusions Bar Coverage For Dust Exposure Suits, Insurer Says

LOS ANGELES — No coverage is owed for underlying bodily injury suits stemming from exposure to silica dust released from an insured’s countertops and stone products because the suits are barred by silica exclusions and total pollution exclusions included in the insured’s commercial general liability insurance policies, an insurer says in a complaint filed in California federal court.
April 03, 2025
Amici Support Auto Insurers In U.S. High Court Dispute Over Class Decertification

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, the American Property Casualty Insurance Association and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, as well as the Washington Legal Foundation, filed amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of automobile insurers, challenging a majority of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ conclusion that a lower court abused its discretion when it decertified a negotiation class because the insureds established that “injury could be calculated on a class-wide basis.”
April 02, 2025
Parties Seeks Dismissal Of 1 Insurer In Coverage Dispute Over Medicaid Fraud Claims

WILMINGTON, Del. — An insured and one of its insurers filed a stipulation asking a Delaware court to dismiss with prejudice all claims against the insurer in a professional liability coverage dispute arising from a Medicaid fraud investigation.
April 01, 2025
Insurer, Reinsurer Seek To Oppose Reconsideration Of Cleanup Case Production Ruling

PADUCAH, Ky. — An insurer and reinsurer seek leave from a Kentucky federal magistrate judge to file an opposition to a ferrosilicon producer’s motion for reconsideration of a January ruling that denied the producer’s motion to compel production of documents from the insurers in a dispute over pollution-related cleanup costs; they argue in their reply in support of their motion for leave that the motion for reconsideration violates at least two prior orders and improperly raises new arguments.