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June 23, 2025
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. —A federal judge in North Carolina denied a hotel and restaurant owner insured’s motion for relief from a March 4, 2021, judgment dismissing its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from the coronavirus pandemic, rejecting the insured’s argument that the North Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling in N. State Deli, LLC v. Cincinnati Ins. Co. constitutes extraordinary circumstances that warrant relief.
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June 19, 2025
FRESNO, Calif. — A breach of contract and bad faith suit filed against a homeowners insurer must be remanded to state court because the insurer failed to meet its burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the amount in controversy exceeds the federal jurisdictional minimum, a California federal judge said, noting that the insurer specifically failed to provide a reasonable estimate of the amount of attorney fees that could potentially be awarded to the insureds.
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June 18, 2025
STATESVILLE, N.C. — The plaintiff in a bad faith suit over an excess liability insurer’s alleged duty to indemnify has filed a notice of supplemental authority in which it directs the attention of a North Carolina federal court to a New York federal court ruling that it says “held that reserve and reinsurance information is discoverable in an insurance coverage action.”
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June 18, 2025
FRESNO, Calif. — A bad faith suit filed against an auto insurer cannot proceed because there is no evidence from which a jury could conclude that the insurer acted in bad faith in failing to settle an assignee’s claim for injuries, a California federal judge said in granting the auto insurer’s motion for summary judgment.
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June 18, 2025
SEATTLE — A district court did not err in finding that an auto insurer acted reasonably in handling an insured’s claim for lost wages and damages following the insured’s involvement in an auto accident and also did not err in finding that the insurer’s filing of a counterclaim for fraud was not an act of insurance bad faith, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in affirming the district court’s ruling.
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June 12, 2025
AKRON, Ohio — An Ohio federal judge denied a motion to strike portions of an insurer’s amended answer in a bad faith suit stemming from the insurer’s handling of a fire damage claim after determining that the insureds did not meet their burden of showing that the insurer failed to follow the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
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June 12, 2025
SALT LAKE CITY — An insured’s demand for arbitration and its bad faith allegation cannot proceed against an auto insurer because the policy does not allow for arbitration for underinsured motorist (UIM) claims and the insured failed to show that the auto insurer acted unreasonably in handling a UIM claim, a Utah federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss.
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June 12, 2025
SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge granted an auto insurer’s motion to dismiss an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith suit but said the insured is permitted to amend the complaint to name the proper insurer in the body of the complaint.
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June 12, 2025
BOSTON — A landlord is not entitled to additional coverage for lost rental income under a landlord dwelling policy because the landlord continued to collect rental payments from its tenants for alternative housing after the tenants’ units were rendered uninhabitable by water damage, a Massachusetts federal magistrate judge said in granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment on breach of contract and bad faith claims.
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June 11, 2025
BOSTON — Counterclaims against a commercial reinsurer survived dismissal in litigation connected to the collapse of Vesttoo Ltd., with a Massachusetts state court judge ruling in part that pay-as-paid provisions “protected only the primary insurers, and the ‘follow form’ provision in the Reinsurance Certificates did not rewrite them to protect [the reinsurer] as well.”
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June 11, 2025
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A third party’s bad faith claim pertaining to an auto insurer’s duty to defend its insured can proceed; however, the portion of the bad faith claim related to the insurer’s denial of coverage cannot proceed, a Connecticut federal judge said in partially granting the insurer’s motion to dismiss.
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June 11, 2025
ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 10 affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a businessowners insurer in an insureds’ breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for hail and water damage to its commercial property following a thunderstorm, further holding that the lower court did not abuse its discretion when it refused to allow the insured to amend its complaint.
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June 11, 2025
FRESNO, Calif. — A California federal judge granted a homeowners insurer’s motion to dismiss breach of contract and bad faith claims alleged by insureds, agreeing with a magistrate judge’s finding that the claims fail because no coverage is afforded for an underlying suit filed against the insureds stemming from the insureds’ sale of their home.
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June 11, 2025
PADUCAH, Ky. — A ferrosilicon producer seeks reconsideration of a Kentucky federal magistrate judge’s ruling limiting the scope of the producer’s issued deposition topics, claiming that the court erred in failing to acknowledge a reinsurer as a proper party in the litigation and misinterpreted its role in a reinsurance contract in a dispute over pollution-related cleanup costs.
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June 10, 2025
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument for July 7 in an appeal seeking revival of an oral surgeon’s breach of contract and bad faith suit filed after he unsuccessfully sought disability benefits on the grounds that his comorbid conditions and inability to access recommended personal protective equipment (PPE) made it necessary to close his practice early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
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June 10, 2025
BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge granted motions to dismiss filed by insurers in a suit filed by insureds seeking coverage for an underlying suit stemming from the insureds’ environmental remediation work after determining that one of the insurers met its burden of showing that no coverage is owed under its policy and the other insurer met its burden of showing that the bad faith and vexatious refusal to pay claims cannot survive under New York law, which governs the policy.
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June 09, 2025
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s dismissal of an insured’s breach of contract and bad faith claims in a homeowners insurance coverage dispute arising from a Texas city’s demolition of a building and vacated the lower court’s denial of the insurer’s second motion for sanctions.
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June 06, 2025
FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas federal judge granted a commercial property insurer’s motion for summary judgment on claims alleging breach of the common-law duty of good faith and fair dealing and violations of the Texas Insurance Code and Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act after determining that the claims cannot proceed because a genuine dispute exists over coverage for damage to a church’s roof caused by a hailstorm.
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June 03, 2025
NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Louisiana on June 2 denied cross-motions for summary judgment in a church insured’s bad faith lawsuit arising from Hurricane Ida property damage, ruling that there are genuine disputes of material fact regarding when the insurer received a satisfactory proof of loss and whether its payment and handling of the claim was arbitrary or capricious.
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June 02, 2025
ST. LOUIS — An insured’s assignee asked the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its ruling that affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer in its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from storm damage, asserting that the court did not “substantively address” its contention that the insurer bore liability for the adjustment of the claim.
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June 02, 2025
CAMDEN, N.J. — Breach of contract and bad faith claims alleged against a homeowners insurer cannot proceed because the insureds are not entitled to recover the actual cash value of the damages to their roof until after the repairs are complete and because no reasonable jury could find that the insurer acted in bad faith in handling the insureds’ claim, a New Jersey federal judge said.
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June 02, 2025
DENVER — A Colorado federal magistrate judge granted an auto insurer’s motion to amend its answer to include a failure-to-cooperate defense in response to the insured’s breach of contract and bad faith claims because the insured failed to show that amendment would be futile and that the insurer cannot maintain the defense under any circumstances.
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May 30, 2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge denied a life insurer and a beneficiary’s motions for summary judgment after determining that genuine issues of material fact exist as to whether a misrepresentation regarding the insured’s use of tobacco was made on the policy application and whether the life insurer acted in good faith in handling the beneficiary’s claim.
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May 30, 2025
MIAMI — A federal chief judge in Florida granted an excess directors and officers liability insurer’s motion to dismiss four claims in a law firm’s lawsuit seeking payment for the legal representation of its insured, giving the insurer until June 9 to file an answer to the complaint’s remaining four claims.
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May 29, 2025
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah federal judge granted summary judgment in favor of an insurer of Lyft Inc. drivers on breach of contract and bad faith claims, rejecting the insured Lyft driver’s argument that the waiver of underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits in the Lyft policy violates Utah law.