We regularly provide counsel and opinions in commercial general liability insurance, financial loss insurance, professional liability, directors and officers liability, title insurance, property insurance, automobile insurance, excess, umbrella and self-insured risk. In addition, we counsel our insurance clients on complex risk transfer issues relating to contractual indemnity and other insurance.
When the claim moves to a suit, we’re prepared because we have considerable experience in defending insurers in both first-party and third-party “bad faith” and extra-contractual litigation. Furthermore, we have been involved in representing insurance carriers in hundreds of lawsuits in Illinois, Kansas and Missouri relating to litigating insurance coverage issues.
Successes
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Charge
Our team obtained summary judgment for an insurer in a declaratory judgment action filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri regarding whether the insurer properly denied coverage under a claims made and reported employment practices liability policy when the insured failed to provide timely notice of an EEOC charge, which later resulted in a lawsuit.
Fire Damage
Our team obtained defense verdict after jury trial in United States District Court of Eastern Missouri in first-party fire damage case. The plaintiff and its public adjuster contended the plaintiff was entitled to recover substantially more than what our insurance carrier client paid during the claims process for the damage to three apartment buildings in the 32 building apartment complex.
Sexual Impropriety
Our team obtained summary judgment for a professional liability carrier in coverage litigation instituted by a medical professional that sought coverage under his policy stemming from accusations of sexual impropriety by a patient.
Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) Claim
The Eighth Circuit Court ruled in favor of American Family on January 3, 2019 (No. 17-3266). In the soon to be published opinion unanimous court affirmed a Missouri federal court’s ruling that the TCPA exclusion had been timely added to the business owners’ policies, barring coverage for the TCPA claim asserted in the underlying class action case. American Family Mutual Insurance Company v. Vein Centers for Excellence, Inc. and St. Louis Heart Center, Inc.
Summary Judgment Ruling
Obtained summary judgment in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in April 2019 for an insurer finding there was not any coverage or duty to defend in a case involving underlying claims that the insured breached a construction contract for constructing a grain storage facility. The court held that the underlying plaintiff’s allegations for breach of contract were not a covered “occurrence” because the insured’s performance under the construction contract at issue was within its control. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision in 2020.
Obtained summary judgment in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri in December 2020 for the insurer finding there was no coverage or duty to defend. The case involved a fraud claim arising from the sale of a large, student housing complex with alleged damages exceeding $50 million with underlying litigation pending in both Missouri and California. The district court agreed with the insurer that the underlying plaintiffs’ misrepresentation claims did not state a covered “occurrence”, and property foreclosure is not covered “loss of use” damages under the policy, the alleged damages were incurred outside the policy period, and there were policy exclusions that also applied to exclude coverage.
An 8th Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously affirmed a summary judgment ruling in favor of American Family. The May 16 ruling was in Norwood-Redfield Apartments v. American Family, No. 18-2618, held that Plaintiff was not entitled to the $31,773,600 policy limit in a case where American Family had paid what it thought was owed, $2,897,896.90.
Complete Defense Verdict
Obtained complete defense verdict following trial in Missouri state court for insurer in equitable garnishment/bad faith lawsuit. Plaintiffs and insured were seeking over $10 million in damages and interest for a judgment relating to a fatal motor vehicle accident.
Declaratory Judgment
Obtained judgment on the pleadings enforcing an assault and battery exclusion in a Commercial General Liability Policy in United States District Court-Western Missouri following a lawsuit filed against a bar for claims of negligent supervision and training and negligence relating to an altercation that resulted in bodily injury to a bar patron. Our firm successfully intervened and stayed the underlying state court lawsuit on behalf of our insurer client while simultaneously obtaining a Declaratory Judgment to enforce the exclusion in federal court.