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September 01, 2026
SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge on Aug. 31 granted a motion to transfer a suit filed by two insurers seeking equitable contribution from a third insurer for costs related to underlying asbestos personal injury claims filed against an insured after determining that Ohio, where the third insurer filed a declaratory judgment suit, is the more convenient venue for the parties and witnesses.
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September 01, 2026
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey federal magistrate judge on Aug. 31 granted an insured’s motion to determine the triggering date of a pollution liability insurer’s duty to preserve evidence after concluding that the duty to preserve evidence related to the insured’s claim for environmental contamination remediation costs began on the date on which the insurer denied coverage for the claim.
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September 01, 2026
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted motions for certification of interlocutory appeal filed by insurers in two separate silica exposure coverage suits after determining that a substantial ground for difference of opinion exists under California law between the concurrent causation doctrine and anti-concurrent causation clauses used in the insurers’ policies.
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August 31, 2026
NEW YORK — A trial court properly granted summary judgment in favor of two insurers in an environmental contamination coverage dispute because the insurers established that the contamination occurred over decades and was not caused by a sudden event, a First Department New York Supreme Court Appellate Division panel said.
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August 31, 2026
BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana federal judge granted a motion to dismiss declaratory relief claims related to an insurer’s duty to indemnify its insureds for underlying mercury bodily injury suits stemming from the decommissioning of a chemical plant after determining that the claims related to the duty to indemnify are not ripe and nonjusticiable at this stage of the litigation.
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August 28, 2026
SCRANTON, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge granted a homeowners insurer’s motion for summary judgment on a bad faith claim in a coverage dispute over a damaged sewer and water pipe after determining that the insureds’ bad faith claim cannot proceed because the insurer had a reasonable basis to deny the insureds’ claim.
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August 25, 2026
LAS VEGAS — No coverage is owed for an underlying mold exposure personal injury suit filed by a tenant of the insureds because the policies at issue include a fungi or bacteria exclusion which applies as a bar to coverage, an insurer says in an Aug. 24 complaint filed in Nevada federal court.
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August 24, 2026
DETROIT — A Michigan federal judge denied a pollution liability insurer’s motion for leave to file a second amended complaint in a dispute over the insurer’s duty to defend and indemnify its insured for underlying suits arising out of exposure to Legionella bacteria at an insured facility because the motion was not filed before the deadline to amend pleadings.
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August 21, 2026
NEW YORK — A developer’s insurer and a subcontractor’s insurer filed a stipulation to dismiss after reaching a settlement in a case brought by the developer’s insurer regarding coverage in an underlying case alleging that the subcontractor’s work may have contributed to water damage in a mixed-use building.
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August 20, 2026
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico federal judge dismissed an insurer’s suit seeking a declaration that no coverage is owed to an insured for underlying asbestos personal injury lawsuits and a separate breach of contract suit after determining that the disputes between the parties should be decided by the state court overseeing the underlying suits because resolution of the insurer’s declaratory judgment suit may not fully resolve the controversy between the parties.
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August 20, 2026
INDIANAPOLIS — A panel of the Indiana Court of Appeals instructed a trial court to refrain from ruling on the issue of indemnity until after the insured’s liability is established in an underlying wrongful death suit stemming from methanol poisoning caused by the ingestion of an ethanol drink product sold by the insured.
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August 19, 2026
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal magistrate judge on Aug. 18 stayed and bifurcated a bad faith claim from a breach of contract claim for the purposes of discovery and trial in a coverage dispute over environmental contamination cleanup costs after determining that adjudication of the two claims will require different witnesses and different documentary proof.
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August 18, 2026
NEW YORK — Primary and excess insurers have no duty to indemnify an insured for underlying personal injury suits seeking damages for exposure to ethylene oxide (EtO) emitted from the insured’s manufacturing facility because the policies’ pollution exclusion clearly bars coverage, a New York federal judge said in granting the insurers’ motion to dismiss.
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August 18, 2026
SALEM, Ore. — An appellate court incorrectly determined that statutory attorney fees should not be included in the allocation of coverage damages in a contribution coverage dispute between primary and excess insurers over environmental contamination costs incurred by the insureds, an insurer says in a petition asking the Oregon Supreme Court to review the appellate court’s ruling.
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August 18, 2026
SEATTLE — In a reply in support of a motion for summary judgment, an insurer maintains that its denial of coverage for an insured’s newly-tendered claim stemming from environmental contamination was consistent and justified based on a state trial court’s 2016 dismissal of similar claims.
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August 18, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied an insured’s petition for rehearing of its ruling affirming a lower court’s denial of the insured’s motion for relief from a final judgment against it in a coronavirus coverage dispute, leaving intact its ruling that the North Carolina Supreme Court’s pro-coverage decision in North State Deli v. Cincinnati Ins. Co. does not prompt reopening and revising the prior judgments.
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August 17, 2026
CLEVELAND — Contending that its $31 million payment resolved liabilities covered by a reinsured policy, an insurer brought counterclaims for breach of contract, equitable subrogation and unjust enrichment in an Ohio federal court against a reinsurer seeking a declaration that it has no obligation under facultative reinsurance certificates to reimburse the payment, which arose from an environmental coverage dispute over remediation costs at a Kentucky aerospace manufacturing site.
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August 12, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — A federal bankruptcy judge in Virginia has denied an insurer’s motion to modify a 2024 mediation order to allow the insurer to use documents produced by Hopeman Brothers Inc. during mediation in connection with the prosecution of its claim in Hopeman’s Chapter 11 case, finding that the requested relief conflicts with a local bankruptcy rule and that the insurer “failed to provide a compelling legal or factual basis for this Court to impinge upon a confidential judicial mediation.”
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August 11, 2026
MINNEAPOLIS — A trial court did not err in granting a property insurer’s motion for summary judgment in a water and mold damage coverage dispute because the policy clearly excludes mold damage and requires repairs to be completed within two years of the date of loss in order for replacement cost benefits to be paid, a Minnesota Court of Appeals panel said Aug. 10.
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August 11, 2026
SPOKANE, Wash. — A trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer must be reversed, a Washington appellate panel said, because the insured’s suit against the insurer seeks coverage for environmental contamination at four sites that were not named or incorporated in settlement agreements related to contamination at other insured sites.
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August 10, 2026
PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida federal judge on Aug. 7 denied as moot an additional insured’s motion to dismiss following an agreement between the insurer, the additional insured and the underlying plaintiff to dismiss without prejudice the insurer’s claims stemming from a coverage dispute over damages caused by a sewage pipe rupture.
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August 10, 2026
SEATTLE — In an Aug. 7 response to an insurer’s motion for summary judgment in an environmental contamination coverage suit, an insured urges a Washington federal court to deny the insurer’s motion because the court already answered the question of whether a state trial court’s 2016 dismissal of similar claims precludes the insured’s claims.
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August 07, 2026
SCRANTON, Pa. — A bad faith claim alleged against a businessowners insurer must be dismissed without prejudice because the insureds failed to provide specific details as to how the insurer acted in bad faith in handling a claim for water damage at an insured commercial building, a Pennsylvania federal judge said.
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August 06, 2026
NEW YORK — Stating that an insurance exchange “should not be permitted to escape the economic consequences of its conduct,” a group of intervening reinsurers asked a New York federal court to award approximately $2 million in attorney fees and costs arising from the exchange’s failed attempt to disqualify an attorney who previously represented the exchange from serving as the reinsurers’ party-appointed arbitrator in a reinsurance dispute, contending that the exchange violated a hold-harmless agreement in which it promised not to sue the arbitrator.
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August 04, 2026
SEATTLE — An insurer filed a motion for summary judgment in Washington federal court, arguing that no coverage is owed for an underlying environmental contamination suit filed in 2023 against an insured because the underlying suit stems from the same property damage and coverage claims that were dismissed by a state trial court in 2016.