December 2010

Indiana Supreme Court: Construction Defects May Constitute an Occurrence Under a CGL Policy

The Indiana Supreme Court in Sheehan Construction, Inc. v. Continental Casualty Co., Indiana Insurance Co. and MJ Insurance, Inc ., has addressed the issue of whether a standard commercial general liability (“CGL”) insurance policy covers an insured contractor for the faulty workmanship of its subcontractor. The divided Court changed the landscape of Indiana law by examining other jurisdictions’ law, concluding that faulty workmanship can constitute an accident so long as the resulting damage is an event that occurs without expectation or foresight and holding that whether faulty workmanship is an accident depends upon the facts of the case. For full article, click here.

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Recent Indiana Jurisprudence on Insurance Policies’ Notice Provision

A number of recent Indiana cases have addressed the provision found in nearly all insurance policies which requires an insured to provide its insurer with prompt notice of a claim. While these cases have clarified the legal framework with which to assess a defense based on late notice, these cases still leave unanswered the question of sufficiency of the evidence required under the framework. The following article will explore Indiana law interpreting the notice provision and where this law leaves practitioners, both for the insured and the insurer, in dealing with the issue of late notice.  For full article, click here.

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Indiana Court of Appeals Addresses Advice of Counsel Defense in Bad Faith Actions and Potential Waiver of Attorney Client Privilege

The Indiana Court of Appeals has issued its opinion in Allstate Ins. Co. v. Timothy Clancy, Robert Goad and Diana Goad, 2010 WL 4217730, reversing a discovery order requiring the production of communications between Allstate and its coverage attorney. On appeal was whether the trial court had abused its discretion by compelling the production of documents on the grounds that Allstate had implicitly raised the advice of counsel defense in a bad faith action, thereby waiving the attorney-client privilege.  For full article, click here.

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Defense trial verdict

Partners Jim Strenski and Dennis Cantrell secured a defense verdict after a 3-day jury trial in the Marion County, Indiana Superior Court recently. Plaintiff and insured, a local funeral home, claimed that representations made by a State Farm agent bound the principal, State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, to loss of business income coverage above and beyond what was afforded by the written insurance policy. The agent denied ever having made the representations, and it was further argued that even if any such representations were made, it was unreasonable for the insured to have relied on such representations. After Plaintiff requested $2.1 million in closing argument, the jury took approximately 2 hours to reach a defense verdict. Congratulations to Jim, Dennis and team!

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Happy Holidays

The attorneys, paralegals and staff of Cantrell, Strenski & Mehringer, LLP wish you the most joyous of holiday seasons and look forward to working with you in the New Year.

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