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

Mealey's Insurance

June 03, 2025
Insurer Alleges Reinsurer Breached Policy Agreement In Asbestos Settlement Row

NEW YORK — An insurer seeks nearly $2 million in damages in a New York federal court, alleging in ts complaint that its reinsurer breached their policy agreement by refusing to pay its share of a settlement tied to asbestos bodily injury claims brought by a corporation covered under the insurer’s excess liability policies.
June 03, 2025
No Coverage Owed To Insured For Contamination Cleanup Costs, Insurer Says

OAKLAND, Calif. — An insured is not entitled to coverage for environmental contamination cleanup costs under a premises environmental policy because the insured voluntarily incurred the cleanup costs rather than being ordered by a government agency to clean up the contamination as required by the policy, an insurer says in a complaint filed in California federal court.
June 02, 2025
Judge Grants Insurer’s Motion To Dismiss Retailer’s Suit Arising From Coronavirus

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A federal judge in Tennessee granted an insurer’s motion to dismiss a women’s fashion retailer’s breach of contract and declaratory judgment lawsuit seeking business interruption coverage for its losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that the policy terms unambiguously state that the policy does not cover losses resulting directly or indirectly from viruses pursuant to Tennessee law.
May 27, 2025
Asbestos Debtor Presperse Adds Insurer Information To Proposed Reorganization Plan

TRENTON, N.J. — Raw materials supplier and Chapter 11 debtor Presperse Corp. has added substantial information about the coverage available from its historical asbestos insurers in redline versions of its proposed plan of reorganization and disclosure statement filed May 23 in New Jersey federal bankruptcy court.
May 23, 2025
Insureds Say Carrier Acted In Bad Faith By Denying $19M Beryllium Release Claim

BOSTON — An insurer’s denial of an insured’s claim for more than $19 million in business interruption losses sustained as the result of a release of beryllium in the wake of three named storms constitutes a breach of contract and bad faith, the insureds say in a complaint filed in Massachusetts federal court.
May 23, 2025
South Carolina Top Court Affirms Discovery Sanction, Receiver For Atlas Turner

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A wealth of evidence supports a trial court’s decision striking defendant Atlas Turner Inc.’s answer as a sanction for discovery abuses in an asbestos case, and the company’s “moral fraud” warranted appointing a receiver over its insurance assets, the South Carolina Supreme Court said in narrowing but otherwise affirming the rulings.
May 23, 2025
Louisiana Federal Judge Stays Claims Against Insurer In Asbestos Bodily Injury Suit

NEW ORLEANS — Claims alleged against an insurer in an asbestos bodily injury suit filed in Louisiana federal court will be stayed until a Massachusetts federal court resolves the issue of whether the insurer is responsible for policies issued to the executive officers of a shipyard where a decedent was exposed to asbestos because a stay of the claims will not prejudice the plaintiffs’ ability to seek coverage from the shipyard’s proper insurer, a Louisiana federal judge said in granting the insurer’s motion to stay.
May 22, 2025
Contamination Exclusion Bars Coverage For COVID-19 Losses, Texas Panel Says

AUSTIN, Texas — A contamination exclusion bars coverage for an insured’s claim seeking coverage for damages and losses incurred as a result of the coronavirus because the exclusion is not ambiguous and clearly includes viruses in its definition of contamination, the Third District Texas Court of Appeals said May 22 in affirming a trial court’s judgment in favor of the insurers.
May 22, 2025
Kentucky Federal Judge Denies Reconsideration Request In Cleanup Costs Dispute

PADUCAH, Ky. — A federal judge in Kentucky overruled the objections presented in and denied a ferrosilicon producer’s motion for reconsideration of a January ruling that denied the producer’s motion to compel production of documents in a dispute over pollution-related cleanup costs, ruling that the reconsideration motion impermissibly raised new arguments and failed to identify claimed ambiguities in a reinsurance contract between it and an insurer and reinsurer.
May 21, 2025
Panel: Property Owners Seeking Remediation Costs Failed To Exhaust All Remedies

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court dismissed a petition filed by two property owners seeking review of the Pennsylvania Underground Storage Tank Indemnification Board’s decision that the property owners are entitled to reimbursement of only 42.3% of remediation costs incurred in removing underground storage tanks because the property owners failed to exhaust all administrative remedies before seeking judicial review.
May 20, 2025
Panel Finds No Error In Lower Court’s Coverage Determinations In Asbestos Suit

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A trial court did not err in making coverage determinations based on two policies produced by a receiver who was appointed to manage asbestos bodily injury claims filed against an insured, because the insurer failed to submit any evidence to support its argument that some of the policies’ terms changed over the years and were not identical to the two policies produced by the receiver, the South Carolina Court of Appeals said.
May 20, 2025
Insured Files Amended Complaint In Silica Dust Exposure Coverage Suit

LOS ANGELES — An insured filed an amended complaint in California federal court to provide an updated list of the underlying bodily injury suits filed against it stemming from silica dust exposure from the insured’s products and reiterating its claims for breach of contract, bad faith and declaratory judgment against its insurer.
May 20, 2025
Underlying Plaintiff Says Coverage Owed For Disposal Of Construction Debris

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — An insurer has a duty to defend its insureds in an underlying suit stemming from the insureds’ alleged improper disposal of construction debris because the underlying suit against the insureds alleges an occurrence for which coverage is afforded under the policy, the underlying plaintiff says in its reply in support of its cross-motion for summary judgment.
May 19, 2025
Coverage Owed For Water Damage, Surplus Lines Insured Says In Amended Complaint

ATLANTA — A surplus lines insurer breached its contract and acted in bad faith in denying an insured’s claim for damages to a number of apartment units damaged as a result of frozen water pipes that burst, an insured says in its amended complaint filed in Georgia federal court.
May 16, 2025
Meso Claimants, Asbestos Debtor Jointly Drop Appeal Due To Expected Settlement

RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia federal judge on May 15 approved a joint stipulation to dismiss an appeal by mesothelioma claimants over a bankruptcy court’s approval of an injunction that bars asbestos claims as part of an $18 million settlement between Chapter 11 debtor Hopeman Brothers Inc. and excess insurers.
May 16, 2025
8th Circuit Affirms Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Bad Faith Suit Over Storm Damage

ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer in an insured’s assignee’s breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit arising from storm damage, concluding that the insured sought “to advance a novel agency theory on appeal” but there is no reason for the insured’s failure to raise this argument in the lower court and “no manifest injustice in this court declining to entertain the argument for the first time on appeal.”
May 12, 2025
Federal Judge Denies Insurer’s Motion For Judgment In Bad Faith, Lead Injury Suit

ST. LOUIS — In a May 9 docket note, a Missouri federal judge overruled an insurer’s motion for judgment as a matter of law submitted at the close of evidence in a jury trial on an insured’s claim for bad faith refusal to settle in a coverage dispute over underlying personal injury claims stemming from the insured’s lead-smelting operations.
May 12, 2025
Insured Says Rehearing Of Panel’s Ruling In Contamination Suit Is Warranted

DENVER — Rehearing of a 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s decision that insurers have no duty to defend or provide coverage to an insured for an underlying environmental contamination suit based on the insurers’ pollution exclusions is warranted because the panel’s decision is contrary to New Mexico law, the insured maintains in its petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc.
May 09, 2025
No Added Weight Should Be Given To Policy Limits In Allocating Costs, Judge Says

PORTLAND, Ore. — A time-on-the-risk allocation of defense costs in an environmental contamination suit is the appropriate method of allocation, an Oregon federal judge said in applying applicable Oregon law and in rejecting the insurer’s argument that equal or more weight should be given to the insurer’s policies’ limits rather than the insurer’s time on the risk when allocating defense costs.
May 09, 2025
Pool Defect Insurance Case Stayed Pending Further Factual Development

AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas federal judge has denied dismissal of a pool construction defect insurance lawsuit but granted an alternative motion to stay the case pending further factual development and possible related litigation.
May 09, 2025
Ship Subcontractor Seeks Approvals For Bankruptcy Plan, Disclosure Statement

RICHMOND, Va. — Defunct ship subcontractor and Chapter 11 debtor Hopeman Brothers Inc. and an asbestos claimants’ committee filed a joint motion asking a Virginia federal bankruptcy judge to schedule a combined hearing to approve the disclosure statement for its proposed plan of reorganization and consider confirmation of the plan, which would establish a trust with insurance proceeds and cash “to allow for resolution of the thousands of asbestos claims against Hopeman.”
May 07, 2025
N.J. Panel Says Trial Court Properly Used Time-On-The-Risk Allocation Method

TRENTON, N.J. — A panel of the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division, in applying Massachusetts law, affirmed a trial court’s use of a time-on-the-risk allocation method to determine the amount owed by an umbrella insurer to an insured for environmental contamination remediation costs after determining that the trial court correctly applied the proper Massachusetts precedent that sets forth allocation requirements under Massachusetts law.
May 07, 2025
Coverage Barred For Insured’s Disposal Of Asbestos-Containing Debris, Insurer Says

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — No coverage is owed for an underlying suit stemming from the insureds’ alleged improper disposal of construction debris because the policy’s asbestos and pollution exclusions clearly bar coverage, an insurer maintains in a reply in support of its motion for summary judgment and opposition to the underlying plaintiff’s cross-motion for summary judgment.
May 06, 2025
9th Circuit Denies Insurer’s Petition For Rehearing In Contamination Coverage Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 5 denied an insurer’s petition for panel rehearing in an environmental contamination coverage suit, refusing to reconsider its decision that a jury trial is necessary to determine the reasonableness of the defense costs incurred by the insured from the date of the insured’s tender of the underlying complaint through the date of the trial court’s order.
April 30, 2025
On Remand From Supreme Court, 4th Circuit Approves Kaiser Debtors’ Reorganization

RICHMOND, Va. — The plan of reorganization of Chapter 11 debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. was proposed in good faith and satisfies the asbestos bankruptcy requirements of Section 524(g) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held April 29 in affirming the plan’s confirmation on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court.