Extrinsic Facts Outside of Complaint Not Permissible in Determining Duty to Defend The Illinois Appellate Court for the Second District, in an opinion written by Justice Hutchinson with Justices Birkett and Schostok concurring, applying Illinois law, affirmed the opinion of the trial court and held Pekin Insurance Company (“Pekin”) did not have a duty to defend McKeown Classic Homes,... Read More

No Conflict Unless Two Mutually Exclusive Theories of Liability The United State District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in memorandum and order written by Judge Feinerman, applying Illinois law, granted Westfield National Insurance Company’s (“Westfield”) motion for summary judgment and declared that the insured, Builders Concrete Services, LLC (“Builders”), was not entitled to independent counsel in a... Read More

Government Shutdown for COVID-19 Not “Direct Physical Loss” The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division, in an opinion by Judge Gettleman, applying Illinois law, dismissed a complaint brought by a dentist office against its insurer seeking a declaration that the insurer must provide coverage for losses due to the government-ordered closure because of the COVID-19... Read More

No Defense to “Big Brother” Volunteer for Allegations of Sexual Abuse The Wisconsin Court of Appeals for District 1, applying Wisconsin law, affirmed the decision of the circuit court and found no duty to defend or indemnify claims of alleged sexual abuse against an insured’s volunteer because the volunteer was not an insured under the applicable policy because his alleged... Read More

No Duty to Defend or Indemnify Allegations of Intentional Conduct The Illinois Appellate Court for the First District, in an opinion written by Justice Hyman with Justice Griffin concurring and Justice Walker dissenting, applying Illinois law, affirmed the decision of the trial court and found General Casualty Company of Wisconsin (“General Casualty”) had no duty to defend or indemnify... Read More

Discovery Rule Applied to Claim Against Broker for Failure to Procure Excess Coverage The Illinois Appellate Court for the First District, in an opinion written by Justice McBride with Justices Howse and Cobbs concurring, applying Illinois law, upheld a jury verdict that awarded Cook County $9.05 million in damages. The Appellate Court upheld the jury verdict finding that the statute... Read More

Actual Cash Value Does Not Allow for Depreciation of Labor Costs The Illinois Appellate Court for the Fifth District, in an opinion written by Justice Cates with Justices Moore and Barberis concurring, applying Illinois law, answered a certified question and held that “actual cash value” does not include depreciation of intangible labor costs. A policyholder filed a putative class action suit... Read More

Governmental Closure Orders Not “Direct Physical Loss” While it is still in the beginning stages, the early results in the coronavirus insurance litigation over losses related to governmental closure orders have favored insurers.  In the two recent opinions described below, the courts each noted that while it sympathized with the policyholders’ situation, it found that as a matter of law... Read More

Unearned Wage and Benefit Theft Subject to Salary Exclusion The Illinois Appellate Court for the Second District, in an opinion written by Justice Hutchinson with Justices McLaren and Bridges concurring, applying Illinois law, affirmed the trial court and held that wage theft is not covered under the insurance policy at issue. According to the appellate court, unearned salary payments are... Read More

Extrinsic Evidence Not Allowed to Prove Exclusions to Duty to Defend The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, applying Texas law, reversed and remanded the decision of the district court because, in contravention of the eight-corners rule, the district court improperly allowed extrinsic evidence into its review of whether State Farm Lloyds (“State Farm”) had a duty... Read More