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Mealey's Texas Insurance

  • 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

    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 02, 2025

    Texas Panel Reverses Ruling In Windstorm Insurer’s Favor In Hurricane Harvey Suit

    CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Texas appeals panel on Oct. 2 reversed and remanded a lower court’s grant of a windstorm insurer’s motion for summary judgment in an estate’s breach of contract lawsuit arising from Hurricane Harvey damage, ruling that the insurer partially denied coverage by concluding that the estate did not perform a condition precedent under the policy’s personal property replacement cost endorsement and, therefore, the estate was entitled to seek judicial relief on its claim for recoverable depreciation.

  • October 02, 2025

    Insured’s UIM Suit Remanded To Texas State Court For Lack Of Diversity

    SHERMAN, Texas — A Texas federal judge remanded an insured’s suit seeking underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits because diversity of citizenship does not exist as the insured, who was visiting her daughter in Texas at the time of the accident, and the auto insurer are both Michigan residents.

  • September 29, 2025

    Texas High Court Denies Review In COVID-19 Contamination Suit

    AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on Sept. 26 denied an insured’s petition for review of a state appellate court’s ruling that a contamination exclusion bars coverage for the insured’s claim seeking coverage for damages and losses incurred as a result of the coronavirus.

  • September 29, 2025

    Texas High Court Won’t Review Baylor College Of Medicine’s COVID-19 Coverage Suit

    AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on Sept. 26 denied Baylor College of Medicine’s petition seeking review of an appeals court’s conclusion that the presence of the COVID-19 virus at its premises did not cause “direct physical loss of or damage to” its property, challenging the appeals court’s reversal of a lower court’s judgment following a jury verdict in the school’s favor.

  • September 26, 2025

    Builder Appeals Judge’s Finding Of No Policy Coverage Of Arbitration Award

    HOUSTON — A homebuilder filed a notice in federal court in Texas on Sept. 25 that it was appealing to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a judge’s order ruling granting summary judgment in favor of the builder’s commercial liability insurer in its suit seeking indemnification for a $213,000 arbitration award for damages caused by construction defects in a home it built; the judge had found that no coverage existed under the policy.

  • September 26, 2025

    Suit Limitation Provision Bars Insureds’ Water, Mold Damage Suit, Panel Says

    EDINBURG, Texas — A trial court did not err in finding that a policy’s suit limitation provision bars a lawsuit filed by insureds who claim that they are owed coverage for water and mold damage in their home because the insureds clearly filed their suit after the limitations period expired, the Texas 13th Court of Appeals said Sept. 25 in affirming the lower court’s decision.

  • September 25, 2025

    Texas Federal Judge Refuses To Reconsider Ruling In Loss Calculation Dispute

    SAN ANTONIO — A Texas federal judge denied an insurer’s motion for reconsideration and refused to permit an interlocutory appeal of the denial of the insurer’s motion for summary judgment in a dispute over the insurer’s practice of withholding future labor costs on homeowners’ property damage claims because the insurer failed to show that there were any manifest errors of law or fact that would warrant reconsideration.

  • September 24, 2025

    Texas Panel Partly Rules In Favor Of Insurers In Coronavirus Coverage Suit

    DALLAS — A Texas appellate panel held that a lower court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of certain commercial property insurers in a breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from the coronavirus pandemic, finding that one of the “follow-form” insurance policies included a coverage-extension endorsement that was not present in the lead policy and the insurer that issued that policy failed to demonstrate that the contamination exclusion superseded the endorsement.

  • September 22, 2025

    Reinsurer Claims Insurer Withheld Premiums, Improperly Terminated Agreement

    DALLAS — A reinsurer sued an insurer in a Texas state court, alleging that the insurer withheld more than $31 million in reinsurance premiums under a quota share reinsurance agreement (QSRA) and related deal, retroactively attempted to terminate their contract in violation of notice requirements and engaged in conduct amounting to breach of contract, unjust enrichment and statutory theft.

  • September 15, 2025

    Homeowners’ Bad Faith, Breach Of Contract Claims To Proceed, Magistrate Judge Says

    DALLAS — A Texas federal magistrate judge denied a homeowners insurer’s motion to dismiss claims for breach of contract and bad faith brought by insureds seeking coverage for water damage in their home after determining that the insureds sufficiently allege facts in their amended complaint to support the claims.

  • September 09, 2025

    Bad Faith Claims Fail Based On Insurer’s Payment For All Damages, Panel Says

    NEW ORLEANS — A district court properly granted summary judgment in favor of a homeowners insurer in a water damage coverage dispute because the insurer’s payments for all amounts owed under the insurance policy forecloses an insured’s bad faith claims, brought under the Texas Insurance Code and under common law, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Sept. 8.

  • September 09, 2025

    Judge Stands By Take-Nothing Judgment In Insurer’s Favor In Hailstorm Coverage Suit

    TYLER, Texas — A federal judge in Texas denied an insured’s motion to alter or amend the 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, finding that the insured failed to provide evidence of $4,838,747 in breach of contract damages and $35 million in exemplary damages that was previously awarded by a jury.

  • September 08, 2025

    Texas Magistrate Judge Says Suit Against Auto Insurer Should be Dismissed

    SAN ANTONIO — A Texas federal magistrate judge recommended that an insured’s suit against an auto insurer be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction because the amount in controversy does not meet the federal minimum requirement of $75,000 and because it is not clear that complete diversity of citizenship exists between the parties.

  • September 08, 2025

    Property Damage Dispute Will Remain In Texas Federal Court, Judge Says

    SHERMAN, Texas — An insured’s breach of contract suit stemming from a denied property insurance claim will remain in Texas federal court because the property insurer met its burden of showing that the amount in controversy exceeds the federal jurisdictional minimum requirement of $75,000, a Texas federal judge said in denying the insured’s motion to remand.

  • September 08, 2025

    Insured, Insurer Settle Storm Damage Dispute; Texas Federal Judge Dismisses Suit

    SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A Texas federal judge dismissed an insured’s breach of contract suit against a homeowners insurer after the parties settled a dispute over the value of the insured’s claim for wind and hail damage to his home.

  • September 08, 2025

    Policyholders’ Declaratory Relief Claim Proceeds In Loss Calculation Dispute

    SAN ANTONIO — A Texas federal judge said an insurer is not entitled to summary judgment on a declaratory relief claim brought by a class of policyholders and pertaining to the insurer’s calculation of future labor costs on homeowners’ property damage claims because the class is entitled to resolution of the issue even if the class’s breach of contract claims fail.

  • September 08, 2025

    No Changes Permitted To Attorney Fee Order In Workers’ Comp Suit, Texas Panel Says

    AUSTIN, Texas — A trial court properly determined that an attorney fee award in a workers’ compensation case could not be altered or enforced by the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation because the claimant failed to appeal the fee award after it was entered by the trial court, the Texas Third District Court of Appeals said Sept. 4 in affirming the lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the workers’ compensation insurer.

  • September 08, 2025

    Insured’s Claims In Fire Damage Suit Should Not Proceed, Magistrate Judge Says

    SAN ANTONIO — A Texas federal magistrate judge recommended that an insurer’s motion for summary judgment be granted in a dispute over coverage for fire damage because the insurer paid the full policy limit for the fire damage and the insured failed to show that the insurer promised to pay anything more than the available policy limit.

  • September 08, 2025

    Fact Issue Exists On Whether Bursting Of Water Pipes Is An Explosion, Panel Says

    HOUSTON — A panel of the 14th District Texas Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a homeowners insurer after determining that a question of fact exists as to whether the bursting of water pipes in an insured’s home constitutes an explosion for which coverage is afforded under the policy.

  • September 08, 2025

    Panel Reverses Ruling On Breach Of Contract Claim Related To Contents Damage

    HOUSTON — An insured’s breach of contract claim related only to contents damage can proceed against a homeowners insurer because a binding appraisal award did not account for the insured’s contents damage caused by an explosion at a manufacturing facility near the insured’s home, a Texas appellate court said in partially reversing a trial court’s ruling.

  • September 08, 2025

    Texas High Court Declines Insurer’s Request To Review Storm Damage Coverage Suit

    AUSTIN, Texas — In its Sept. 5 orders pronounced, the Texas Supreme Court denied an insurer’s petition asking it to review an appeals court’s ruling that affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a hotel owner insured in a coverage dispute over roof damage caused by a storm.