Fact Question Regarding Malpractice Insurer’s Failure to Settle Within Limits The Seventh Circuit, applying Indiana law, reversed the district court and held that a question of fact existed as to whether the plaintiff malpractice insurance company committed a “Wrongful Act” by rejecting two settlement offers for policy limits in an underlying case. The underlying case stemmed from the death of Vicki Bramlett from complications following a... Read More
Allegedly Damaged Goodwill Does Not Trigger EPL Coverage The Seventh Circuit, applying Indiana law, affirmed the district court’s ruling and found no coverage for the underlying lawsuit which alleged the plaintiff used DirecTV’s satellite television programming for its businesses without paying a higher commercial subscription rate. The Seventh Circuit disagreed that the underlying lawsuit, which included allegations for damaged goodwill, involved “slander, invasion of privacy, defamation or humiliation.” ... Read More
Malicious Prosecution Trigger is Date of Exoneration Not Filing of Charges An Illinois appellate court, in an opinion written by Justice Pucinski, applied Illinois law and reversed the trial court’s dismissal of the insured’s complaint seeking a declaration of coverage for an underlying suit which alleged malicious prosecution. According to the appellate court, coverage for the “offense” of malicious prosecution was not triggered until the... Read More
Hoke LLC represents the policyholder plaintiff in the lead case listed by leading national legal website Law 360 as Insurance Cases to Watch in 2019 in the United States. See Link. On behalf of Vanderbilt Minerals, LLC, Hoke LLC prevailed both at trial and on appeal on the major legal issues impacting the insurer defendants’ coverage obligations. The case... Read More
Multiple bridge collapses constitute “Related Claims” under professional liability policy The Fourth Circuit, applying North Carolina law, affirmed summary judgment in favor of an insurer and held that the collapse of two bridges designed by the insured was subject to a policy’s $3 million per claim liability limit because the claims were “related claims” that arose from the same design... Read More
Three-day fire damaging multiple properties was a single occurrence under “Cause Theory” The Wisconsin Supreme Court, applying Wisconsin law, reversed the appellate court’s decision and held that a multi-day fire which damaged multiple properties constituted a single occurrence. Therefore, the $500,000 per-occurrence limit for property damage applied rather than the $2 million aggregate limit. On May 16, 2013, a fire broke... Read More
All policies from first exposure to lawsuit triggered – no medical trial necessary A New York supreme court, applying New York law, ruled on multiple motions for summary judgment in a coverage dispute and declared, inter alia, as a matter of law that “injury in fact” in an asbestos action occurs from the first date of exposure through death or... Read More
Ambiguity between policy language and declarations page allows for stacking of limits The Illinois appellate court for the Fifth District, in an opinion written by Judge Goldenhersh, applied Illinois law and affirmed summary judgment in favor of an insured holding that despite anti-stacking language in a policy, a declarations page that printed the policy limit more than once could reasonably... Read More
Section 155 sanctions award upheld for insurer’s delay in settling property damage claim The Illinois appellate court for the Second District, in an opinion written by Justice Burke, held that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in finding an insurer’s delay in settling property damage claims was unreasonable, vexatious, and deserving of sanctions under 215 ILCS 5/155. The... Read More
Nightclub’s loss of value due to permit cancellation after shooting covered by general liability policy A California appeals court, applying California law, reversed a lower court’s ruling and held that a venue owner’s loss of ability to use the property as a nightclub constituted property damage, not economic loss, and therefore it was covered under the applicable general liability policy. Thee... Read More
