753 results for 'cat:"Insurance" AND cat:"Contract"'.
J. Burroughs grants an insurance company’s motion for judgment on its insured’s breach of contract claim and denies its motion for judgment on its insured’s bad faith claim. The insured failed to demonstrate how the insurance company failed to follow any of its insurance policies by delaying its decision of whether or not to defend the insured while it investigated the related incident and the legal action against the insured.
Court: USDC Massachusetts, Judge: Burroughs, Filed On: March 12, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv11150, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: insurance, Wrongful Death, contract
[Consolidated.] J .Gabriel finds the lower court erroneously dismissed the homeowners' lawsuits against their insurance companies. Although their insurance claims were untimely, according to the policy language, the courts should have applied the notice-prejudice rule adopted by this court in other insurance disputes. The homeowners' policies and subsequent claims were occurrence policies under which the notice requirements are included only to allow the insurer to investigate the claim and are not fundamental contractual terms. Therefore, the case must be remanded to allow the lower courts to determine whether the homeowners' delays in filing were reasonable. Reversed.
Court: Colorado Supreme Court, Judge: Gabriel, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 2024CO13, Categories: Civil Procedure, insurance, contract
Per curiam, the Seventh Circuit properly granted the insurer a declaratory judgment, finding that the underlying accident is excluded from coverage under the tree service company's insurance policies. An injured woman won a default judgment in state court against the company after she was struck by a truck with an attached woodchipper. However, the company's errors and omissions policy contains an auto exemption, and its general liability policy provides coverage only if the woodchipper was in operation at the time of the accident. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 23-1478, Categories: insurance, contract
J. Sippel finds for the insurer in a dispute over damages incurred in connection with the failure of a retaining wall on the construction site of a new apartment building. The owner is not entitled to alleged loss of rental income, because this provision applies solely to the named insured, which is only the construction company, not to additional named insured.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Missouri, Judge: Sippel, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 4:22cv849, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: insurance, contract
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[Consolidated.] J. Scudder finds that the lower court properly dismissed a woman's state law claims against her insurer arising out of coverage requests following a fire that destroyed her restaurant. Under the terms of the policy, the woman agreed to resolve part of the dispute through an appraisal process resembling arbitration, and there is no merit to her claim that the appraisal umpire did not understand his assigned task to calculate the actual cash value of the restaurant. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 23-2282, Categories: insurance, contract
J. Casper denies three insurance companies’ motion to dismiss the first amended complaint for breach of contract and seeking relief brought against them through a class action. Depreciation doesn’t necessarily include labor costs in an insurance policy that doesn’t expressly say that it does, because to assume otherwise wouldn’t interpret insurance policies liberally in favor of the insured.
Court: USDC Massachusetts, Judge: Casper, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv11466, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: insurance, contract, Labor
Per curiam, the appeals court finds the trial court improperly granted summary judgment to the insurance company in the disaster management business' lawsuit over coverage involving an accident at a job site in Louisiana where workers were cleaning up an oil spill. The trial court incorrectly concluded that the business lacked standing, that its claims were barred by judicial estoppel, and that there were no disputes of fact over whether the insurance company obtained the coverage the business requested, so its order is reversed and the case is remanded for further proceedings. Reversed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 23-0182, Categories: Civil Procedure, insurance, contract
J. Keenan finds the lower court improperly granted class certification to the massage parlors. The parlors lost money during the pandemic when they were closed to avoid the spread of COVID-19. To receive insurance benefits, the parlors would have had to suffer from physical material destruction or material harm to their business. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Keenan, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 22-1853, Categories: insurance, Covid-19, contract
J. Casper denies three insurance companies’ motion to dismiss the first amended complaint for breach of contract brought by insureds suing in a class action. Depreciation doesn’t necessarily include labor costs in an insurance policy that doesn’t expressly say that it does, because to assume otherwise wouldn’t interpret insurance policies liberally in favor of the insured.
Court: USDC Massachusetts, Judge: Casper, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv11047, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: insurance, Class Action, contract
J. Bury rules an "avid art collector" may pursue insurance claims for a stolen Rolex watch, but not for the alleged theft of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring works of art. The insurance company sufficiently showed in court that the art collector did not actually owned the works of art, but may be entitled to obtain coverage for the watch.
Court: USDC Arizona, Judge: Bury, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 4:21cv119, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: Evidence, insurance, contract
J. Dimke grants default judgment to the insurance company for its complaint that it has no duty to cover the insured's claim relating to a collision that occurred when someone else was driving his insured vehicle. The loss is excluded by the policy's employee exclusion clause, as the insurance company believes that the man who drove the car during the accident was the insured's employee. The insured's lack of cooperation in confirming or denying this prejudiced the insurance company in this case.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Washington, Judge: Dimke, Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: 4:23cv5043, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: insurance, Vehicle, contract
J. Lynch finds that the lower court properly allowed an insurer to recover payments made to a furniture retailer that suffered water damage at its mall showroom. The retailer's lease contained an indemnity provision, but the damage had been caused by repairs made outside the showroom. Thus, the mall failed to deliver space containing plumbing "suitable for occupancy." Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Lynch, Filed On: March 7, 2024, Case #: 535961, Categories: insurance, contract
J. Fischer finds the district court improperly denied the insurance company's motion for attorney fees in this declaratory judgment action. The company filed to determine whether its appraisal procedure had been triggered by the insured's demand for a storm damage appraisal. The company prevailed on its appraisal issue and the insured's contract counterclaim. Reversed.
Court: Oklahoma Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Fischer , Filed On: March 7, 2024, Case #: 119695, Categories: insurance, Attorney Fees, contract
J. Scales finds the trial court properly denied the insureds' motion for attorney fees and granted the insurance company's motion for summary judgment in the insureds dispute over the appraisal process and ultimate coverage of damages their home suffered during Hurricane Irma in 2017. The trial court's order on attorney fees is affirmed without discussion, and the summary judgment order is upheld because, despite the insureds' arguments to the contrary, the trial court was allowed to consider evidence in the record from the hearing over attorney fees in making its summary judgment decision. Affirmed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Scales, Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: 22-2137, Categories: insurance, contract
J. Stiles finds that the trial court properly ruled in favor of the administratrix of the estate in determining that the attempted beneficiary change for the decedent's annuity contract was null and void due to her mental incapacity from when she sustained brain injuries in an auto accident. The decedent settled her personal injury claim and subsequently began a "pen pal relationship" with an inmate, married him and made him the beneficiary. The evidence supports the finding that the decedent lacked the mental capacity to manage her long-term financial affairs after the accident. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Stiles, Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: CA-23-635, Categories: insurance, Settlements, contract
J. Vascura denies the uninterruptable power supply manufacturer's partial motion to dismiss, ruling that limiting language in its contract with the industrial plant allows the plant's insurance company to plead both contract and fraud claims. The damages limitation clause would not provide nearly enough to compensate the plant for damage from the explosion, and punitive or secondary damages from a fraud claim would be necessary.
Court: USDC Southern District of Ohio, Judge: Vascura, Filed On: March 5, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1398, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Fraud, insurance, contract
J. Wang finds for a restoration company in claims contending an insurer refused to pay for work performed after a mudslide damaged a Sheraton Hotel property in Rio de Janeiro because the hotel did not challenge skilled labor rates while the work was ongoing, and the insurer did not prove that the company failed to provide invoice documentation.
Court: USDC Colorado, Judge: Wang, Filed On: March 5, 2024, Case #: 1:21-cv-01380, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: insurance, contract
J. Wright finds that the lower court properly granted the insurer's motion to dismiss a petition seeking coverage for the debtors' liability in the opioid mass tort claims, liabilities which were assumed by the trust in bankruptcy proceedings. The insurer's policy contains a forum selection clause clearly stating that disputes arising under those contract to be litigated in the courts of England or Wales. Affirmed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wright, Filed On: March 5, 2024, Case #: ED111765, Categories: insurance, Jurisdiction, contract
Per curiam, the circuit finds the district court improperly denied the group of insurance companies’ motion to compel arbitration. After the property owner was denied full coverage by various insurers for property damage sustained in a hurricane, he filed suit alleging all the insurers engaged in the same breach of contract. Certain involved insurers are domestic and signatory to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards, while others are not. Equitable estoppel can allow the non-signatory foreign companies to a contract with an arbitration clause to compel arbitration with signatories. The district court failed to apply the proper “interdependent and concerted misconduct” test. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: March 4, 2024, Case #: 23-30171, Categories: insurance, International Law, contract
J. Brnovich denies a proposed class of insureds motion for class certification concerning contract claims against an insurance company, which may have engaged in undervaluing insureds' loss vehicles. The insurance company sufficiently showed in court that the proposed class would have to resolve individual, labor intensive questions as to who was wrongfully denied coverage.
Court: USDC Arizona, Judge: Brnovich, Filed On: March 4, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv342, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: insurance, Class Action, contract
J. Grasz finds a lower court properly granted an insurance company's motion for summary judgment concerning coverage claims brought by a warehouse. The warehouse operator argued that its policy with the insurance company covers property damage liability for the collapse of a building during a deadly tornado. However, the insurance company sufficiently showed in court that it is not obligated to cover damages given that Amazon is the actual owner of the facility. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Grasz, Filed On: March 4, 2024, Case #: 23-1450, Categories: insurance, Property, contract
J. Hambrick denies the insurance company's motion for a protective order regarding a "copy of the first Stop Gap coverage form issued to BTI with documents showing the date the form was first used to insure BTI and all variants of that form used thereafter," which relates to the insurance company's complaint that it has no duty to defend or indemnify the employees for when one of the employees suffered injury when unloading a trailer of molten sulfur. The information regarding the stop gap coverage issued to non-party BT Incorporated is relevant and potentially admissible because it can give insight on the parties' intent when they entered into the contract, and the insurance company does not show how allowing this evidence into this case would be unduly burdensome.
Court: USDC Wyoming, Judge: Hambrick, Filed On: March 2, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv76, NOS: Insurance - Contract, Categories: insurance, Discovery, contract
J. Hull finds that the district court properly dismissed the insured's class action breach of contract claim premised on the theory that the insurer had a duty to periodically reassess its cost of insurance rates but did not do so during the class period. The claim arose out of a dispute over a life insurance policy. However, the district court improperly dismissed the breach of contract claim premised on an alternative theory that the insurer chose to reassess its rate scale during the class period and violated the policy by ignoring its expectations as to future mortality experience and failing to base the insured's rates on those improving expectations. Reversed in part.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Hull, Filed On: March 1, 2024, Case #: 22-12991, Categories: insurance, contract