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Appeals court backs insurer’s reality-show exclusion in ‘My 600-lb Life’ fight - Business Insurance Skip to content Register for free Search Search Log In Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2026 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2026 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2026 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2026 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Appeals court backs insurer’s reality-show exclusion in ‘My 600-lb Life’ fight by Richard Sine Claims Disputes , General liability Sep 14, 2026 A unit of Tokio Marine Holdings does not have to pay to defend lawsuits tied to the reality series “My 600-lb Life,” in a ruling where a judge invoked movies including “The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable” and “The Exorcist.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit affirmed a summary judgment for the insurer on Monday in Megalomedia Inc. v. Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company, rejecting an appeal by the show’s producer, Austin, Texas-based Megalomedia. Philadelphia had provided general liability insurance to Megalomedia since 2010. In 2011, Philadelphia added an endorsement excluding “any/all reality shows” from coverage. In 2020, several former participants in “My 600-lb Life” — which follows people trying to lose extreme weight — sued Megalomedia, claiming negligence, infliction of emotional distress and other counts. The claims were dismissed in 2022. In 2021, a district court judge ruled that the reality TV exclusion barred coverage. On appeal, Megalomedia argued the term “reality show” was too ambiguous. However, Megalomedia had repeatedly told the lower court that “My 600-lb Life” was a reality show, while arguing the exclusion should be read to cover such shows rather than bar them, the ruling states. Having lost on that theory, the court held, Megalomedia could not reverse course on appeal. Megalomedia had made “180-degree reversals worthy of an M. Night Shyamalan movie,” Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan wrote “The good ones like Sixth Sense and Unbreakable,” he wrote in a footnote. “Not the other ones.” Later, he said that Megalomedia had impersonated the possessed girl in the movie “The Exorcist.” Judges James C. Ho concurred: “Courts waste time when they decide cases based on one set of arguments, only to have litigants take the opposite view at a later stage in the case.” Judge Andrew S. Oldham dissented. He wrote that the term “reality show” was ambiguous and undefined in the policy. “This was a mistake because the policy covers documentaries, docuseries and docudramas. These categories significantly overlap with reality shows.” He also wrote the court should have considered Megalomedia’s new legal theory on appeal because its fundamental breach-of-contract claim had remained the same. 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