Bad Faith Blog
June 4, 2017
Fraud and Collusion Defeat Logger’s Attempt to Enforce West Virginia Consent Judgment
Injured logger, as an assignee of claims by a timber lessee and land owner, brought an action against his employer’s liability insurer to recover a consent judgment for the $1M policy limits. After the trial court entered summary judgment in favor of the logger, the employer’s insurer appealed. The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia found the consent judgment was not binding on the insurer because it was not a party to the underlying suit and the settlement and assignment were void for fraud and collusion.