Reno - Everest Indemnity Insurance Co. is on the hook for $4.5 million after a Nevada state court jury on Thursday said the insurer acted in bad faith by refusing to cover a construction company’s defense costs in an underlying class action stemming from an earthen levee collapse that caused the flooding of hundreds of homes.

Jurors deliberated for only a few hours before deciding that Everest had no basis for refusing to cover defense costs referred to them by Matthews Homes, which held a $2 million commercial general liability policy from the insurer, after Matthews was sued by a class of hundreds of homeowners claiming poorly designed drains exacerbated the effects of a 2008 flood.

Attorneys Robert Maddox and Jamie Carsey deliver their opening statements in Reimers v. Everest. Click here to see video from the trial. Click here for a copy of the complaint. 

Reno - Opening statements began Tuesday in a $5 million class action in Nevada state court accusing Everest Indemnity Insurance Co. of acting in bad faith by refusing to cover defense costs in an underlying suit brought by hundreds of homeowners who claimed a developer’s poorly designed drains caused flooding after a levee collapse.

Bakersfield - Opening statements in a bellwether product liability suit alleging Johnson & Johnson's Ethicon unit designed a defective pelvic mesh product and withheld knowledge of the mesh's health risks began Monday in California state court.

Plaintiff Coleen Perry’s suit is the first case involving Ethicon’s “TVT-Abbrevo” sling system to be decided by a jury out of tens of thousands of pelvic mesh suits filed in state and federal court across the country. Perry had the device implanted in 2011 to treat a bladder problem called stress urinary incontinence, according to her complaint. Perry’s suit claims she later suffered painful side effects after her immune system reacted to the device’s propylene mesh and it eroded through her vaginal tissue.