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May 15, 2026
EL PASO, Texas — A Texas federal magistrate judge found that a claim brought against an adjuster in a case alleging breach of contract, bad faith and violations of Texas insurance law over an insurer’s coverage for water damages to an El Paso apartment complex is “insufficient” to defeat diversity jurisdiction and recommended dismissing the adjuster as a defendant and denying a motion to remand.
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May 11, 2026
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on May 8 conditionally granted mandamus relief to relator insurers, holding that a lower court abused its discretion in denying the insurers’ motion to compel appraisal of their insureds’ flood damage loss to a food distribution warehouse because the record amply establishes that the parties’ disagreement is at least partly about the insureds’ amount of loss.
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May 01, 2026
AUSTIN, Texas — A split Texas appellate court on April 30 denied a petition for writ of mandamus by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. seeking dismissal of a qui tam suit brought by Health Selection Group LLC (HSG) alleging fraud under the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act, finding that “the costs of discovery and the litigation process that the parties will endure are insufficient in this instance to demonstrate a lack of an adequate remedy by appeal.”
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May 01, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 30 affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an insurer in a breach of contract lawsuit over an insured’s claim for roof damage caused by Hurricane Nicholas, holding that the insured failed to establish that a “full” roof replacement is necessary under the homeowners insurance policy for his alleged Hurricane Nicholas damage despite his failure to replace the roof after his 2017 Hurricane Harvey claim.
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April 30, 2026
HOUSTON — A lawsuit a woman filed against her insurer “from beyond the grave” alleging violations of Texas insurance laws, breach of contract and bad faith stemming from the handling of a property damage claim was dismissed without prejudice by a senior federal judge for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
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April 30, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a respondent brief that the U.S. Supreme Court requested regarding a certiorari request that health insurance plan petitioners and trade association amici curiae contend wrongly broadened equitable estoppel under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, Texas emergency medicine physician groups argue in part that the petition is “based on a description of the case that bears no resemblance to reality” and needlessly seeks “to resolve a split in authority that does not exist.”
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April 29, 2026
DALLAS — A federal judge in Texas, in partially dismissing premature claims without prejudice and partially dismissing claims with prejudice by granting a motion for summary judgment, held that a man injured in a multivehicle collision did not have standing to directly sue the insurer of the other involved motorist and did not assert viable legal claims for promissory estoppel, bad faith or violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA).
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April 29, 2026
AUSTIN, Texas — Following a settlement reached by the parties, a Texas federal judge granted a joint motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a woman against her insurer alleging breach of contract, bad faith and violation of state insurance laws after she said she was low-balled on a payout and wrongfully denied claims for damages to her home from a fallen utility pole and a hail storm.
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April 28, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 27 denied an insurer’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision holding that late notice of underlying class litigation relieved a reinsurer of indemnity obligations under a quota share reinsurance treaty; the insurer had argued in its petition that the appellate court imposed an objective notice standard not recognized under Texas law.
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April 27, 2026
DALLAS — An insurer that paid more than $202,000 in workers’ compensation benefits on behalf of a construction company that was found liable for shock injuries to two excavation workers from an electrified live wire appealed a Texas federal judge’s grant of summary judgment and dismissal in a lawsuit alleging conversion and breach of contract and seeking recovery of subrogation interest and lien amounts.
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April 27, 2026
AUSTIN, Texas — Overruling objections filed by the insured, a federal judge in Texas agreed — in adopting a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation granting summary judgment to the insurer on claims of breach of contract, bad faith and violations of the state insurance code — that the insurer had no duty to defend under a homeowners policy in an underlying suit alleging that the insured conspired with his brother to defame and emotionally harm a group of plaintiffs.
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April 24, 2026
EL PASO, Texas — A federal judge in Texas dismissed a lawsuit filed by the owner of an apartment complex against its insurer alleging breach of contract and state insurance law claims stemming from property damage sustained in a wind and hail storm after receiving notice of a settlement agreement reached by the parties.
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April 24, 2026
WACO, Texas — Questions of fact regarding whether coverage is owed for damage to a metal roof and whether a legitimate coverage dispute existed preclude summary judgment in favor of a homeowners insurer on an insured’s breach of contract and extracontractual claims, a Texas federal judge said.
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April 24, 2026
DALLAS — A Texas appeals panel found that a trial court did not err in granting summary judgment without a hearing to an insurer in a suit filed by a driver seeking declaratory judgment and damages under his uninsured/underinsured (UM/UIM) motorist coverage after a hit-and-run, finding that a live hearing on the matter was not required and “that summary judgment was proper.”
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April 14, 2026
FORT WORTH, Texas — A church insured filed a notice indicating that it is appealing a Texas federal court’s final judgment dismissing with prejudice its claims against its commercial property insurer for breach of contract, bad faith, unfair or deceptive acts or trade practices and violations of the Texas Prompt Payment Claims Act in a coverage dispute over hailstorm damage.
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April 14, 2026
MARSHALL, Texas — Following a joint settlement between the parties, a federal judge in Texas closed a case in which three interstate freight motor carriers sued their insurer for breach of contract, bad faith and violations of the Texas Insurance Code for abruptly canceling their policies over allegations that they ran “unscheduled drivers.”
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April 13, 2026
SHERMAN, Texas — A tax firm filed an amended complaint in a Texas federal court, seeking to recover refunds and invalidate the Internal Revenue Service’s assessment and collection of promoter penalties based on its captive insurance advisory work, including divisible amounts it paid and additional sums the agency allegedly offset and misapplied to those penalties.
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April 13, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded a Texas federal court’s ruling dismissing a breach of contract claim arising from the Vesttoo Ltd. collapse that covers three sections of a reinsurance intermediary authorization agreement (RIAA), holding that while the RIAA imposed no duty on a reinsurance broker to procure collateral documentation or comply with Texas insurance laws, a homeowners insurer plausibly alleged postplacement breaches of the broker’s administrative obligations, which the panel found ambiguous and not resolvable at the pleading stage.
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April 03, 2026
SAN ANTONIO — A Texas federal judge ruled, in denying a motion to compel appraisal, that an insurer’s request for an appraisal following unsuccessful mediation in a dispute with an elderly woman over a water damage claim was “unreasonably delayed” given that it was filed 22 months after the woman filed her claim and 10 months after she filed a federal lawsuit alleging breach of contract, bad faith, violations of the state insurance code and more.
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April 03, 2026
SHERMAN, Texas — Adopting a magistrate’s report that an insurance policy’s express contract exclusion unambiguously bars coverage for an underlying breach of contract claim that a homeowners association made against its management company, a federal judge in Texas granted the insurer’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed the lawsuit.
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April 02, 2026
HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas opined that an insurer seeking summary judgment on claims that an insured couple were not entitled to underinsured motorist benefits in a years-long dispute following a motor vehicle collision did not present sufficient evidence to meet its burden to show that it was prejudiced by the alleged policy violations, failed to show that a policy exclusion applied and was unable to prove that the couple’s counterclaim was time-barred.
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March 31, 2026
AUSTIN, Texas — The Third District Texas Court of Appealsreversed and remanded an amended final judgment that granted summary judgment in favor of the owner of a totaled Audi for nearly $240,000 plus interest for the value of his car, damages and attorney fees and costs in his suit against his insurer alleging breach of contract and state law claims, finding that the owner failed to conclusively prove the claims as a matter of law and failed to establish the policy terms and independent damage.
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March 31, 2026
HOUSTON — An additional insured is not entitled to coverage for business interruption losses caused by quarantine orders issued in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic because the commercial property policy’s pollution and contamination exclusion bars coverage, the 14th Texas Court of Appeals said March 31 in affirming a trial court’s ruling in favor of the insurer on breach of contract and extracontractual claims.
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March 27, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 26 asked Texas emergency medicine physician groups that prevailed in a reimbursement dispute over out-of-network care to respond to a certiorari petition in which health insurance plans seek review of a decision they argue “created two deep circuit splits in one fell swoop” by holding “that equitable estoppel under” the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “is not limited only to ambiguous plan terms or exceptional circumstances.”
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March 27, 2026
DALLAS — The insurer and the insured in a federal lawsuit alleging bad faith, breach of contract and other claims in a dispute over whether damage to the roofs of two Texas buildings was caused by a 2021 hailstorm agreed in a March 26 notice “to have a magistrate judge conduct a settlement conference or mediation” for the case, taking up a judge’s offer that was included in an opinion denying a motion for summary judgment and motions to exclude and strike expert opinions and testimony.