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Mealey's Texas Insurance

  • March 27, 2026

    High Court Seeks Response To Certiorari Petition Involving ERISA Estoppel

    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.”

  • March 27, 2026

    Parties To Mediate Coverage Dispute Suit After Texas Federal Judge Denies Motions

    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.

  • March 27, 2026

    Texas Panel Says Trial Court Properly Found Insurer Did Not Act In Bad Faith

    AUSTIN, Texas — A trial court properly granted summary judgment in favor of an insurer on claims alleging that the insurer violated the Texas Insurance Code by denying the insured’s theft claim in bad faith because the insurer met its burden of showing that a reasonable coverage dispute existed; however, the trial court improperly granted the insurer’s motion on the insured’s breach of contract claim because the value of the insured’s stolen items was not an essential element of the breach of contract claim, the Third District Texas Court of Appeals said March 26.

  • March 26, 2026

    Judge Adopts Report Finding Alleged Defects Fell Under Scope Of Coverage

    SAN ANTONIO — A federal judge in Texas adopted a magistrate judge’s finding that an insurer had not shown that the property damage alleged in an underlying defects suit fell outside the scope of coverage.

  • March 24, 2026

    Judge Grants In Part Insured’s Motion To Compel In Cyber Crime Coverage Suit

    DALLAS — A federal judge in Dallas granted in part an insured’s motion to compel an insurer to provide deposition testimony, answer interrogatories and produce “privileged” documents in a coverage dispute arising from a criminal cyberattack, concluding that the insured has established a possibility that testimony as to underwriting may be relevant to a claim or defense and the insurer has failed to demonstrate that the documents it withheld satisfy the elements of attorney-client privilege or are entitled to work product protection.

  • March 20, 2026

    5th Circuit: Truck Driver’s Claims Against Employer’s Insurer Were Time-Barred

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in an unpublished opinion that claims a commercial truck driver brought against his employer’s insurer for denying benefits after a tire smashed through his windshield while he was driving for work were not barred by res judicata but were time-barred.  Thus, the panel opined that a federal judge in Texas did not err in granting summary judgment to the company.

  • March 19, 2026

    Insurer Argues Appellate Court Should Affirm No Coverage For Homebuilder

    NEW ORLEANS — In its appellee brief in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a builder’s insurer argues that a federal judge in Texas was right to find that no coverage existed under a policy the insurer provided the builder in a suit the builder filed against the insurer seeking indemnification for an arbitration award for damages caused by construction defects in a home the builder built; the insurer argues that the alleged defects occurred while the builder owned the property and therefore fell under a policy exclusion.

  • March 19, 2026

    Insurer Objects To Finding That Alleged Damage Fell Under Scope of Coverage

    SAN ANTONIO — An insurer objected to a federal magistrate judge in Texas’ finding that the insurer had not shown that the property damage alleged in an underlying construction defects suit fell outside the scope of coverage.

  • March 19, 2026

    Judge Adopts R&R Allowing Insurer’s Claims Against Contractor To Proceed

    AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge in Texas issued an order adopting a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation that a construction company’s motion for judgment on the pleadings be denied in a case its insurer brought against it seeking to recover attorney fees the insurer paid in defending subcontractors in an arbitration regarding allegedly negligent hotel designs and construction; the magistrate judge had found that the insurer exclusively paid defense cost claims.

  • March 16, 2026

    Insurer Disputes Texas Federal Magistrate Judge’s Storm Damage Segregation Finding

    EL PASO, Texas — The owner of a Texas apartment complex who filed an insurance claim after his property sustained damage in a wind and hail storm did not prove that the damages were caused solely by that specific storm, the insurer says in objections to a federal magistrate judge’s report and recommendation stating that the insurer’s motion for summary judgment on breach of contract and state insurance law claims should be denied.

  • March 16, 2026

    Aircraft Insurance Policy Is Ambiguous, 5th Circuit Rules, Reverses Summary Judgment

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer in a lawsuit seeking recovery of a $6.4 million underlying judgment arising from a rented plane that crashed into a communications tower and caused two fatalities, concluding that the aircraft insurance policy is ambiguous.

  • March 12, 2026

    Federal Magistrate Judge Says Insured Failed To Show Entitlement To UIM Benefits

    HOUSTON — A Texas federal magistrate judge dismissed an insured’s breach of contract claim without prejudice and abated the insured’s extracontractual claims after determining that the insured has not established that the tortfeasor was at fault for an accident or that he is entitled to underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits under his employer’s auto policy.

  • March 12, 2026

    5th Circuit Finds No Error In Lower Court’s Refusal To Consider Expert Affidavit

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a Texas federal judge’s ruling that breach of contract and bad faith claims alleged against a homeowners insurer in a dispute over coverage for water damage must be dismissed because the lower court did not err in failing to consider a late-filed affidavit by the insureds’ public adjuster.

  • March 11, 2026

    Filed-Rate Doctrine Bars Class Action Against Allstate, 5th Circuit Affirms

    NEW ORLEANS —The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 10 affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer and denial of the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in their lawsuit alleging that Allstate violated the Texas Insurance Code by charging its longstanding customers higher premiums than new customers for materially identical automobile insurance coverage, agreeing with the lower court that the filed-rate doctrine bars the action because the plaintiffs inherently challenge the reasonableness of the filed insurance rates that were reviewed by the Texas Department of Insurance.

  • March 11, 2026

    Texas Federal Judge: Killer Son Not Entitled To Slayed Father’s Life Insurance Cut

    DALLAS — A federal judge in Texas, in granting an insurer’s default judgment motion, the two other living beneficiary children of a murdered insured’s life insurance policies are entitled to a 34% cut that was originally allocated to the beneficiary son who fatally shot the insured in the head.

  • March 09, 2026

    Judge Tosses Prompt Payment Counterclaims Against Professional Liability Insurer

    AUSTIN, Texas — A senior federal judge in Texas dismissed without prejudice counterclaims brought under Texas Insurance Code Chapter 542 against a professional liability insurer, holding that the defendants’ prompt payment counterclaims fail because they do not involve a “claimant” or “claim” as defined under Chapter 542.

  • March 09, 2026

    Court Lacked Admiralty Jurisdiction Over Yacht Owner’s Claims, 5th Circuit Affirms

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s ruling that granted subrogee insurers’ motion to dismiss a yacht owner’s petition seeking limitation of liability for damage caused by a fire and explosion under the Limitation of Liability Act, agreeing with insurers that the lower court lacked admiralty jurisdiction over the yacht owner’s claims.

  • March 04, 2026

    Policy’s Express Contract Exclusion Bars Coverage, Federal Magistrate Says

    SHERMAN, Texas — Noting that at least one other court has reached the same conclusion on similar facts, a magistrate judge determined 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 and recommended that a federal Texas court grant the insurer’s motion for summary judgment.

  • March 03, 2026

    Judge: Ransomware Sublimit Does Not Limit Insurer’s Liability For Malware Attack

    DALLAS — Noting that the court has not located any case law interpreting a ransomware sublimit endorsement or any similar policy provision, a federal judge in Texas held that a cyber liability insurance policy’s $250,000 Ransomware Sub-Limit Endorsement is not applicable on its face to the policy’s cyber extortion insurance and, as a result, the insurer’s liability is not limited as to the insured’s claim for $1.2 million in losses arising from a malware attack.

  • February 27, 2026

    Texas Federal Judge Denies Dismissal Of Insurer’s Counterclaims In Payment Dispute

    HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas denied a well owner/operator’s insurer’s motion to dismiss counterclaims brought by the insurer of a contractor in a dispute over responsibility for payment to their insureds to settle a workplace injury suit at the site, finding that the independent contractor directing operations when the injury occurred is classified at this stage as an employee of the owner.

  • February 27, 2026

    Texas Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Most Of Driver’s Claims Against Insurer, Lyft

    EASTLAND, Texas — A Texas appeals panel affirmed a trial court’s grant of summary judgment dismissal of claims for breach of contract and violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) and Insurance Code brought by a Lyft driver against the ride-share company and the insurer that issued both his personal auto policy and Lyft’s auto policies after he was denied coverage for the cost of damages to his vehicle following an accident, ruling that the policies excluded coverage and the driver had no independent damages, among other findings.

  • February 27, 2026

    Texas Church, Insurer Resolve Federal Suit Over Coverage; Judge Dismisses Case

    WACO, Texas — A federal lawsuit filed by a Texas ministry against its insurer alleging breach of contract, bad faith and other claims for “knowingly” limiting coverage terms to deprive it “of policy benefits owed” for building damages from a wind and hail storm ended soon after it began following a judge’s order granting a joint stipulation of dismissal resolving the claims.

  • February 26, 2026

    Abatement Granted In Texas Weather Damage Case; Building Owner Seeks Appraisal

    McALLEN, Texas — The owner of a Texas building seeking insurance coverage for weather-related damage and battling over the damage estimate with its insurer filed an emergency motion to compel appraisal in a federal court in that state; the motion was filed three days after a federal judge exercised his discretion and granted the owner’s motion to abate judicial proceedings.

  • February 25, 2026

    5th Circuit Refuses To Reconsider Ruling In Insurer’s Favor In Coverage Dispute

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 24 denied an insured’s petition to reconsider its ruling that affirmed a lower federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer in a breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit, standing by its ruling that the insured failed to provide evidence suggesting that hail occurred within the relevant policy period and, as a result, did not establish a genuine dispute of material fact regarding whether covered damage occurred.

  • February 25, 2026

    Judge: No Reasonably Clear Evidence Of Bad Faith In Hurricane Beryl Coverage Suit

    HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas granted an insurer’s motion for partial summary judgment as to the insured’s claim that it violated Texas Insurance Code Chapter 541 when it underpaid a claim for property damage that was caused by Hurricane Beryl, concluding that there is no “reasonably clear” evidence that the insurer acted in bad faith.