Justia Insurance Law Opinion Summaries

After a scammer posing as an executive of Principle Solutions persuaded an employee to wire money to a foreign bank account, Principle Solutions sought coverage under the "fraudulent instruction" provision of its insurance policy with Ironshore. Ironshore denied Principle Solution's claim, asserting that the scammer's communications with the employee did not meet the conditions for a fraudulent instruction.The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment. The court held that the policy unambiguously covered Principle Solutions' claim, because the loss involved a fraudulent instruction directing a financial institution to transfer funds and the loss resulted directly from the fraudulent instruction. View "Principle Solutions Group, LLC v. Ironshore Indemnity, Inc." on Justia Law

After obtaining an unfavorable result in an arbitration proceeding, Crowley Maritime filed suit against its insurer, National Union, seeking reimbursement in legal defense fees paid on behalf of an employee of Crowley. The district court granted National Union's converted motion for summary judgment on grounds that Crowley failed to timely report the claim at issue in this appeal to National Union as required by the relevant insurance policy.Applying Florida law, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of National Union's converted motion for summary judgment, holding that the record supports the conclusion that Crowley failed to timely report the claim based on the affidavit as required by the policy. The court held that, with respect to the reporting period between April 16, 2008 and December 31, 2012, Crowley was bound by the arbitration panel's finding that Crowley had not reported a claim to National Union as required by the policy at that time; with respect to the reporting period beginning immediately after December 31, 2012 and running through the end of the discovery period on November 1, 2013, Crowley failed to report the claim based on the affidavit as required by section 7(a) of the policy; and Crowley has waived any arguments that either its February 2013 notice or its July 2015 notice should relate back to the April 2008 notice under section 7 of the policy. View "Crowley Maritime Corp. v. National Union Fire Insurance Co." on Justia Law

In this property insurance coverage dispute, the insurer appealed the district court's grant of summary judgment and coverage award to the landlord. The Eleventh Circuit held that the district court erred in concluding the deductible was satisfied. In this case, the district court erred in determining that the Tenants and Neighbors Provision was ambiguous and concluding that it extended coverage under this property insurance policy for the landlords' attorneys' fees amount and the post-judgment interest amount. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded with instructions to enter summary judgment -- and an order declaring that the policy did not provide coverage to the landlord -- in favor of the insurer. View "Ace American Insurance Co. v. The Wattles Company" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit granted Gerber's petition for panel rehearing and vacated its prior opinion, substituting the following opinion.In this insurance dispute case, the court held that Gerber, as assignee, lacked Article III standing to bring a declaratory judgment class action against GEICO in the absence of a claim for money damages or substantial likelihood that the insured would suffer a future injury. Accordingly, the court vacated the district court's judgment because it had no jurisdiction to entertain this suit. The court instructed the district court to remand the case to the circuit court. View "A&M Gerber Chiropractic LLC v. GEICO General Insurance Co." on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit dismissed this insurance dispute case, holding that Gerber, as assignee of the insured, did not have standing to bring a declaratory judgment class action against GEICO. In this case, the action did not assert any claims for money damages and there was no substantial likelihood that the insured would suffer a future injury. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded with instructions to dismiss the complaint for lack of standing. View "A&M Gerber Chiropractic LLC v. Geico General Insurance Co." on Justia Law

These appeals relate to life insurance policies that were issued by Sun Life to non-parties and that were subsequently acquired by Imperial. The district court dismissed all claims in both cases.The Eleventh Circuit held that Sun Life waived its opportunity to rely on non-forum law to interpret the policies at issue and thus interpreted the relevant policies under Florida law. In regard to Sun Life's complaint, the court affirmed the district court's dismissal of the fraud conspiracy and declaratory judgment counts; and vacated the dismissal of the RICO, RICO conspiracy, fraud, aiding and abetting fraud, and tortious interference with contractual relations counts. In regard to Imperial's complaint, the court affirmed the breach of contract count to the extent it asserted a breach of the rights-and-privileges clause. The court vacated the district court's dismissal of the breach of contract count to the extent it asserted a breach of the incontestability clause. The court remanded for further proceedings. View "Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada v. Imperial Premium Finance, LLC" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit vacated the district court's grant of summary judgment to AIG in an action filed by AGLIC claiming that AIG, acting as a primary insurer, improperly allocated settlement payments between two insurance policies on behalf of their mutual insured, Imperial. The court held that, because the interests of St. Paul and AGLIC were coextensive, there was an absence of complete diversity of citizenship, and the district court lacked the power to entertain the matter in the first place. Therefore, the court remanded with instructions to dismiss. View "National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh v. American Guarantee & Liability Insurance Co." on Justia Law

The Airline Deregulation Act preempts a cause of action against an air ambulance provider based on a provision of the Florida Motor Vehicle No Fault Law, Florida Statutes 627.730–627.7405. The Eleventh Circuit held that the insured in this case sought to restrict the prices of the air carrier and the ADA preempted it from doing so. The court explained that the McCarran-Ferguson Act did not interfere with preemption because the balance billing provision, on which the action rests, has nothing to do with the relationship between an insurer and an insured and therefore does not regulate the business of insurance. View "Bailey v. Rocky Mountain Holdings, LLC" on Justia Law

After transporters damaged cargo, Lloyds filed suit seeking to recover from the transporters the damages that Lloyds paid to its insured. The Eleventh Circuit explained that, because the transporters damaged one part of a machine that could not operate without the damaged part, the extent of the transporters' liability depended on whether the Montreal Convention or the waybill controlled. The court held that the district court erred in ruling that the Montreal Convention governed the transporters' liability, but rather, the waybill governed the transporters' liability. Because the waybill was ambiguous about the weight that should be used to calculate liability, the court remanded the case for the district court to address the issue in the first instance. View "Underwriters at Lloyds Subscribing to Cover Note B0753PC1308275000 v. Expeditors Korea Ltd." on Justia Law

The Florida Supreme Court answered the Eleventh Circuit's certified question, stating that the notice and repair process set forth in Chapter 558 of the Florida Statutes is a "suit" within the meaning of the CGL policies issued by C&F to ACI. The state court explained that although the chapter 558 process did not constitute a civil proceeding, it was included in the policy's definition of suit as an alternative dispute resolution proceeding to which the insurer's consent was required to invoke the insurer's duty to defend the insured. In light of the state court's answer of the certified question, the court reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment for C&F, vacated the final judgment, and remanded to the district court for further proceedings. View "Altman Contractors, Inc. v. Crum & Forster Specialty Insurance Co." on Justia Law