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Mealey's Insurance

  • September 12, 2025

    Insured Condo Association Settles Water Damage Suit With Insurer; Suit Dismissed

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge dismissed a water damage coverage suit filed by an insured condominium association against its insurer after the parties reached a settlement and stipulated to dismissal of the suit.

  • September 10, 2025

    Breach Of Contract Suit Dismissed Following Settlement Between Insurer, Reinsurer

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge ordered the dismissal without costs and without prejudice of an insurer’s breach of contract suit against its reinsurer after the parties reached a settlement.

  • September 09, 2025

    Silica Exclusions Bar Coverage For Silica Exposure Lawsuits, Insurers Say

    LOS ANGELES — No coverage is afforded to Home Depot U.S.A. Inc. for more than 100 bodily injury lawsuits seeking damages as a result of silica exposure from countertops sold and marketed by Home Depot because the retailer is not an additional insured under policies issued to the countertop manufacturer and because the policies’ exclusions for silica and pollution bar coverage, insurers maintain in a complaint filed in California federal court.

  • September 08, 2025

    Pollution Liability Insurer Owes Defense For Contamination Suit, Insureds Maintain

    LAFAYETTE, La. — A pollution liability insurer has a duty to defend its insureds in an underlying suit seeking damages for saltwater contamination because the underlying complaint alleges claims that are potentially covered under the policy, the insureds maintain in a motion for partial summary judgment.

  • September 08, 2025

    Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage For Stormwater Damage Suit, Judge Says

    SAVANNAH, Ga. — An insurer has no duty to defend its insured in an underlying property damage suit caused by stormwater runoff because the policies’ pollution exclusion bars coverage, a Georgia federal judge said, noting that multiple Georgia courts have found that stormwater qualifies as a pollutant.

  • September 08, 2025

    Fla. Panel Reverses, Finds ‘Triable Issue’ As To Loss In Homeowners Coverage Suit

    MIAMI — A Florida appellate court reversed and remanded a trial court’s final judgment of $25,711.90 for Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which describes itself on its website as Florida’s “insurer of last resort,” after the trial court granted summary judgment for the insurer, finding that the record contains disputes of fact regarding whether the insureds met the burden to show that the cause of their loss is a “triable issue.”

  • September 04, 2025

    Calif. Federal Judge: Insurance Companies Liable For Cleanup At CERCLA Site

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge ruled that intervening insurers in a dispute over responsibility for groundwater contamination under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act at a former wood preservation plant are liable on behalf of a former operator for past and future cleanup costs in granting a state agency’s motion for partial summary judgment.

  • September 04, 2025

    Parties Agree To Dismiss Contamination Coverage Suit In Pennsylvania Federal Court

    PITTSBURGH — An insurer and its insured filed a joint stipulation of dismissal in Pennsylvania federal court after agreeing to litigate the insurer’s declaratory judgment suit in Massachusetts federal court where the insured filed a similar suit seeking coverage for underlying environmental contamination lawsuits.

  • September 02, 2025

    Pollution Liability Insurer Has No Duty To Defend Insured, Federal Judge Says

    SAN FRANCISCO — A pollution liability insurer has no duty to defend its insured against underlying suits stemming from the insured’s environmental remediation work because the pollution conditions at issue were not unexpected or unintended as required by the policies, a California federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment.

  • August 28, 2025

    Delaware High Court Denies Interlocutory Appeal In Product Liability Coverage Suit

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Supreme Court on Aug. 27 refused insurers’ request for interlocutory appeal of a lower court’s ruling that underlying product liability claims brought against Mattel Inc. and Fisher Price Inc. (collectively, Mattel) constituted a single “occurrence” under their tower of commercial general liability insurance policies and should be allocated by the year in which the bodily injury occurred for the policies above the primary tower level, finding that “[p]iecemeal appeals will not promote efficiency or considerations of justice.”

  • August 28, 2025

    Transfer Of Coverage Dispute Over Fire, Chemical Damages Not Warranted, Judge Says

    AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas federal judge denied a motion to dismiss or transfer an insurer’s suit to another division of the Texas federal court after determining that the environmental remediation company failed to show that the federal division where the insurer filed its declaratory judgment suit is improper or inconvenient.

  • August 27, 2025

    Insured Says District Court’s Aggregate Limit Ruling Must Be Reversed

    SAN FRANCISCO — An umbrella liability insurer failed to explain why its insured’s interpretation of policy language pertaining to an aggregate limit is not supported, an insured says in urging the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a lower court’s ruling in a dispute over coverage for environmental contamination remediation costs.

  • August 26, 2025

    Bankruptcy Judge Says Avon Entities’ Liquidation Plan Can Be Confirmed

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The Chapter 11 liquidation plan of the U.S. divisions of cosmetics giant Avon was proposed in good faith and can be confirmed once various minor revisions are made, a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge held in a memorandum opinion following the plan confirmation hearing.

  • August 26, 2025

    Fraud, Breach Of Duty Of Good Faith Claims Dismissed In Water Damage Dispute

    BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An Alabama federal judge granted a property insurer’s motion to dismiss claims alleging fraud and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing because the insured fails to allege facts in support of the fraud claims and because Alabama law does not recognize a claim for breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing.

  • August 25, 2025

    Bad Faith Claim Proceeds, Punitive Damages Request Nixed In Asbestos Coverage Suit

    NEW YORK — An insured’s bad faith claim against an umbrella insurer in a dispute over coverage for underlying asbestos bodily injury lawsuits filed against the insured can proceed because the claim is not duplicative of the breach of contract claim; however, the insured’s request for punitive damages cannot proceed because the insured failed to show that the insurer’s actions caused any harm to the public as required to support the claim under New York law, a New York federal judge said.

  • August 25, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Contractor’s Coverage Suit After Parties Announce Settlement Reached

    FLORENCE, S.C. — A federal judge in North Carolina dismissed a contractor’s coverage suit stemming from water intrusion and other construction defect issues at a mixed-use development project, noting that the parties have indicated that they have reached a settlement.

  • August 22, 2025

    Insureds Owed $15M In Damages, $8M In Prejudgment Interest In Asbestos Dispute

    SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Following a bench trial on damages incurred by insureds in a long-running dispute over coverage for underlying asbestos bodily injury claims, a New York justice determined that the insureds met their burden of showing that they are entitled to $15 million in damages and $8 million in prejudgment interest.

  • August 20, 2025

    Judge: Insured Met Burden Of Showing Pollution Exclusion Does Not Bar Coverage

    ALBANY, N.Y. — An insured municipality met its burden of showing its insurers owe a duty to defend it against an environmental contamination claim, a New York federal judge said after determining that there is a “reasonable possibility” that the contamination at issue was caused by a fire or an emergency, which are exceptions to the policies’ pollution exclusion.

  • August 19, 2025

    Judge Orders Supplemental Briefing On Joinder Issue In Contamination Coverage Suit

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge on Aug. 18 ordered two insurers embroiled in a dispute over a mutual insured’s environmental contamination liabilities to file supplemental briefing on the issue of whether the insured must be joined as a party to the suit before the court determines if a settlement agreement between the insured and one of the insurers is valid.

  • August 19, 2025

    Producer’s Reconsideration Bid On Discovery Limits Denied In Cleanup Cost Row

    PADUCAH, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge denied a ferrosilicon producer’s motion to reconsider a prior ruling that limited the scope of the producer’s issued deposition topics, holding that the producer’s objections were largely repetitions of prior arguments already considered and addressed by the court and that claims-handling discovery is inappropriate at the current stage of litigation, which is centered on a reinsurance contract in a dispute over pollution-related cleanup costs.

  • August 19, 2025

    Insured, Excess Insurers File Notices Of Appeal In Asbestos Coverage Dispute

    FORT WORTH, Texas — An insured and two of its excess insurers filed notices of appeal to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking review of a final judgment entered by a Texas federal judge in the asbestos coverage dispute in addition to review of a summary judgment ruling entered in favor of the insurers and the denial of the insured’s motion for reconsideration.

  • August 19, 2025

    Question Of Fact Exists As To Whether Ongoing Water Leakage Exclusion Applies

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge denied a motion for judgment on the pleadings filed by insureds who are seeking coverage for water damage in their home because a question of fact exists as to whether the policy’s exclusion barring coverage for ongoing water leakage applies.

  • August 19, 2025

    Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage For Carbon Monoxide Leak, Insurer Says

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An insured is not entitled to defense or indemnity for underlying lawsuits seeking damages caused by carbon monoxide exposure stemming from the faulty installation of tankless hot water heaters because the policy’s total pollution exclusion bars coverage, an insurer asserts in a complaint filed in Florida federal court.

  • August 18, 2025

    No Coverage Owed For Underlying Suit Seeking Indemnity For Asbestos Claims

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — Breach of contract and bad faith claims alleged against an insurer and its claims adjuster by an insured seeking coverage for an underlying suit seeking indemnification for asbestos bodily injury suits cannot proceed because the claims adjuster had no contract with the insured and the underlying suit does not seek damages caused by property damage or bodily injury as required by the policy at issue, a South Carolina federal judge said in granting the insurer and claims adjusters’ motion to dismiss.

  • August 11, 2025

    COMMENTARY: The Forever Chemical: Regulation, Litigation And Insurance

    By Robert D. Chesler, Arthur J. Clarke, Walker Prentke, Brian Della Torre and Matthew J. Sinkman