The insurer stated sure, collected the invoices, then stated no
What occurred: Phillips 66 alleges its insurer accepted a protection obligation, collected months of authorized invoices, then reversed course and denied protection
Who’s concerned: Phillips 66 (extra insured), Berkley Nationwide Insurance coverage Firm (insurer), Cavern Options (common contractor)
What’s at stake: protection prices, settlement funds, and $882,237.50 in crane injury, plus penalty curiosity underneath the Texas Insurance coverage Code
Why it issues: the grievance raises questions on what occurs when an insurer reverses an accepted protection obligation after receiving privileged case technique
The place it stands: grievance filed November 5, 2026, within the Southern District of Texas
Â
For months, the invoices went out. Not one was paid.
That’s the core of a brand new lawsuit from Phillips 66, which alleges that Berkley Nationwide Insurance coverage Firm agreed in writing to cowl the power firm’s protection in two private damage and wrongful loss of life instances – then quietly reversed course, left the invoices unpaid, and walked away from its protection obligations.
The grievance, filed November 5, 2026, within the US District Courtroom for the Southern District of Texas, accuses Berkley Nationwide – a subsidiary of W.R. Berkley Company – of breach of contract, dangerous religion, and violations of the Texas Insurance coverage Code.
Right here is the backstory. Berkley Nationwide offered power common legal responsibility and umbrella insurance policies to 2 subcontractors, Cased Gap Wellhead Companies and Common Wellhead Companies. Below these insurance policies, Phillips 66 says it qualifies as an extra insured – which means it’s entitled to the identical protection and protection because the named policyholders for claims arising from the subcontractors’ work.
The fireplace and the fallout
The dispute traces again to January 17, 2023, when a fireplace broke out at Phillips 66’s Borger Refinery in Texas. In response to the grievance, hydrocarbons have been launched when staff have been manipulating lock pins after a hanger was landed throughout a snubbing operation. The fireplace led to 2 lawsuits alleging accidents and loss of life – one introduced by Shannon Thompson and others, the opposite by Debra Scharene Huff and others – each filed in Harris County, Texas.
Phillips 66 requested Berkley Nationwide to step in and canopy its protection. In February 2025, the grievance alleges, the insurer accepted that obligation in writing.
What adopted, in response to the submitting, is the place the story turns. Protection counsel for Phillips 66 started sending invoices and case standing stories to Berkley Nationwide, together with materials associated to protection technique and the deserves of the underlying litigation. The grievance alleges the insurer by no means raised a single objection to the invoices and by no means questioned the protection technique.
Then, in response to the grievance, “almost seven months” after accepting the protection, Berkley Nationwide reversed its place underneath the Common insurance policies on October 17, 2025 – regardless of, Phillips 66 alleges, no change within the underlying information. Days later, it did the identical underneath the Cased Gap insurance policies.
4 calls for, principally silence
What adopted was a string of calls for that went largely unanswered. On December 5, 2025, Phillips 66 requested Berkley Nationwide to rethink. The insurer refused in a December 30 letter – the final substantive response the grievance information for months.
On January 21, 2026, Phillips 66 tried once more, this time forward of a mediation of the underlying lawsuits. It additionally requested settlement authority. No response, the grievance states. On January 30, Phillips 66 demanded that Berkley Nationwide settle for a settlement inside coverage limits. No response. On February 5, it set a deadline of February 9. No response.
On February 20, Berkley Nationwide once more refused to acknowledge its protection obligations, the grievance alleges.
In response to the submitting, Phillips 66 then entered into settlements with the plaintiffs in each underlying lawsuits. The grievance describes these as “good religion, cheap, and confidential.”
There was additionally a crane. A crane leased from Scott Macon Tools was broken within the refinery fireplace. Phillips 66 alleges it paid $882,237.50 to cowl that property injury – and that Berkley Nationwide has refused to reimburse it.
The indemnity ruling
The grievance additionally factors to a latest win for Phillips 66 within the underlying instances. On October 16, 2026, a court docket granted Phillips 66’s request for a ruling – with out a trial – that two of the contractors owed it indemnification. The court docket discovered that Cavern Options owed Phillips 66 indemnification for the Thompson lawsuit, and that Cased Gap owed Phillips 66 indemnification for the Huff lawsuit.
Phillips 66 brings three authorized claims. The primary is breach of contract, alleging Berkley Nationwide did not defend and canopy Phillips 66 underneath the insurance policies. The second alleges violations of the Texas Immediate Cost of Claims Act, a state legislation that requires insurers to acknowledge, examine, and pay claims on time. The third alleges broader dangerous religion underneath the Texas Insurance coverage Code, claiming the insurer did not settle when its legal responsibility had change into moderately clear and misrepresented the phrases of its personal insurance policies by accepting after which backing away from its protection obligations.
Phillips 66 is searching for damages, penalty curiosity underneath the Texas Insurance coverage Code, and attorneys’ charges. The corporate has demanded a jury trial.
The grievance alleges that Berkley Nationwide’s refusal to settle brought on Phillips 66 damages exceeding the insurer’s personal coverage limits – a element that protection professionals and extra carriers will wish to watch intently.
The allegations within the grievance haven’t been examined, and no court docket has dominated on the deserves of Phillips 66’s claims.
