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September 21, 2026
AMARILLO, Texas — A Texas federal judge dismissed common-law and statutory bad faith, Texas Insurance Code and Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) claims brought by a church against its insurer in a dispute over coverage for hailstorm damage, leaving only breach of contract and prompt payment claims pending against the insurer, while also excluding two of the church’s experts in an opinion and order addressing several motions filed by both parties.
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September 21, 2026
SHERMAN, Texas — A Texas federal judge dismissed Texas state law claims brought against insurers in an environmental contamination coverage dispute after determining that New York law applies under the policies’ choice-of-law provision.
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September 15, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — A majority of a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Sept. 14 that a television production company insured forfeited its argument that an insurance policy’s “reality show” exclusion is ambiguous and, therefore, must be construed in its favor, affirming a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of the insurer in a coverage dispute arising from underlying injury claims brought against the insured by participants of the reality television show “My 600-lb Life.”
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September 15, 2026
EL PASO, Texas — A commercial general liability insurer argues in a Sept. 14 motion for summary judgment filed in Texas federal court that it has no duty to defend its insured against an underlying suit stemming from carbon monoxide poisoning at an insured motel pursuant to a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that held that a pollution exclusion applies to injuries caused by the release of carbon monoxide.
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September 14, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 11 affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling that insurers have no duty to defend against underlying lawsuits alleging the insureds violated the federal Anti-Terrorism Act, holding that the underlying actions assert that the insureds “intentionally made payments” to foreign terrorist organizations and, as a result, do not allege an occurrence under the policies.
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September 14, 2026
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Adopting a magistrate judge’s memorandum and recommendation, a Texas federal judge denied remand of a man’s negligence and breach of contract suit against his insurer and the initially unidentified driver of the other vehicle in an accident that left him injured and struck two amended complaints in which he sought to name the alleged driver and vehicle owner and reduce his requested damages amount.
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September 11, 2026
HOUSTON — In response to a woman’s motion filed in a federal Texas court to alter or amend a judgment that dismissed breach of contract, bad faith, state insurance law and negligence claims against her insurer over freeze-related damage that reportedly led to mold buildup at her Houston home, the insurer argues that a binding appraisal award and payment resolved the dispute and that the homeowner improperly seeks to relitigate her claims.
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September 11, 2026
BURLINGTON, Vt. — A governmental risk management pool alleges in a complaint filed in Vermont federal court that for more than 15 years, a member-owned captive reinsurance company misused and misallocated tens of millions of dollars in capital contributions and premium payments by allegedly subsidizing other members’ losses and failing to properly credit the risk pool’s capital accounts, bringing claims for contractual, fiduciary and anticipatory breaches.
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September 11, 2026
HOUSTON — A Texas appeals panel affirmed a trial court’s take-nothing judgment against a man who sued his insurer for breach of contract, bad faith and deceptive business practices after he was denied coverage for a theft and loss claim arising from an alleged burglary, holding that legally sufficient evidence supported the finding that the property was not stolen and therefore not covered. The panel further declined to address the trial court’s findings that the insurer proved its affirmative defenses of fraud and reasonable basis.
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September 09, 2026
SHERMAN, Texas — A federal judge denied a Texas IT services company’s request to enforce a $50,000 private agreement with its insurer to settle breach of contract, bad faith and state insurance law claims over a “covered theft loss,” finding that the court likely lacks jurisdiction to enforce the agreement because it “neither adopted nor approved, much less ordered compliance with” it.
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September 09, 2026
DALLAS — A Texas federal judge granted a homeowners insurer’s motion for summary judgment on common-law and statutory bad faith claims after determining that the claims fail because a legitimate dispute exists over whether coverage was afforded for damages stemming from rodents chewing on water pipes in the insureds’ home.
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September 04, 2026
AUSTIN, Texas — No coverage is owed to an additional insured seeking coverage for hundreds of underlying silica personal injury suits because the silica and total pollution exclusions in primary and excess policies bar coverage, an insurer says in a complaint filed in Texas federal court.
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September 03, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 2 dismissed a church insured’s appeal of 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, finding that the insured failed to timely file its appellant brief and record excerpts.
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September 02, 2026
DALLAS — A homeowner insurer and a reinsurance broker filed a joint motion for a protective order in a Texas federal court, seeking the ability to mark as confidential certain forthcoming discovery materials that they consider instrumental to their business practices or containing information not known to the public, in litigation over the remaining breach of contract claim in the insurer’s suit over losses tied to the Vesttoo Ltd. collapse.
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August 31, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — Skirting “thorny choice-of-law issues” but expressing doubt that a plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act “can tell its insured that no state law applies to him,” the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an unpublished opinion affirming denial of long-term disability (LTD) benefits on the grounds that the claimant “was not totally disabled” even under de novo review.
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August 31, 2026
HOUSTON — A Texas federal judge dismissed breach of contract and extracontractual claims against an insurer that relied on its policy’s exclusion for dishonest or illegal acts as a bar to coverage for property damage and bodily injury claims stemming from a boating accident because the insurer met its burden of showing that there are no genuine issues of material fact on the claims.
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August 27, 2026
HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas granted a motion for reconsideration, withdrew a prior order and granted summary judgment to an insurer in a years-long motor vehicle collision coverage dispute, finding that the insured couple “failed to timely establish by court judgment that” the driver of the vehicle involved in the collision and the driver’s employer “were liable and underinsured.”
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August 19, 2026
TYLER, Texas — A Texas appeals panel reversed a lower court’s denial of an insurer’s motion to stay and compel arbitration in a coverage dispute arising from a worker’s injury, holding that because the plaintiff alleges that it is owed coverage as an additional insured under primary and excess policies, the policies’ arbitration clauses apply under the direct benefits estoppel theory.
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August 19, 2026
HOUSTON — A pharmacy benefit manager seeks a declaratory judgment in a Texas federal court after a reinsurer and third-party administrator (TPA) asserted competing claims to millions of dollars in prescription drug rebates, asking the court to declare that the rebates are not health plan assets and that neither defendant has a contractual, statutory or fiduciary right to their ownership or payment.
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August 17, 2026
SHERMAN, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on Aug. 14 rejected an objection from an infectious disease lab testing company and adopted a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation granting the lab’s insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in a dispute over defense coverage for regulatory claims.
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August 17, 2026
FORT WORTH, Texas — A Second District Texas Court of Appeals panel held that a trial court judge was wrong to reduce a jury’s damages award to a couple who brought bad faith and Texas insurance law claims against their homeowners insurer for refusing to cover the cost of replacing an allegedly hail-damaged roof of their home. The panel opted, though, to modify the award to $14,500 instead of granting the jury’s full damages award or remanding the case based on a rejected settlement offer and a provision of the state insurance code.
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August 17, 2026
HOUSTON — Claims alleging breach of contract, bad faith and violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) can proceed against an auto insurer because questions of fact exist as to whether the insured’s wife was married to him at the time of an auto accident and whether she lived with the insured at the time of the accident, a Texas federal judge said in partially denying the insurer’s motion for summary judgment.
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August 14, 2026
BEAUMONT, Texas — A federal judge in Texas ruled in denying a motion to dismiss that a man who sued his health insurer for allegedly denying and underpaying claims associated with significant medical conditions pleaded enough facts to state a plausible breach of contract claim while also holding that the insurer’s primary argument was merits-based and not appropriate for a dismissal motion.
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August 12, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — Writing that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals “should finish the job” by vacating the entirety of an IRS final rule that a lower court partially invalidated, a plastics manufacturer argues in its appellant brief that the remaining portion of the rule is unlawful on the basis that its “building blocks” lack administrative record support.
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August 10, 2026
NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel remanded for further explanation a federal judge in Texas’ grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurer in a builder’s suit seeking indemnification for an arbitration award for damages caused by construction defects in a home the builder built, finding that the judge had not provided a sufficient explanation for the basis of his ruling.