Seventh Circuit Rejects Broad Interpretation of Claim Under Claims-Made Professional Liability Policy
Date: 07/08/20
In Market Street Bancshares, Inc. v. Federal Insurance Co., 2020 WL 3396303 (7th Cir. June 19, 2020), the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit grappled with whether a damages argument asserted for the first time in a thirteen-year-old litigation constituted a new “claim” that triggered an insurer’s duty to defend under a later claims-made policy. Concluding that the damages argument was not itself a “claim” but merely part of an earlier-made claim (the civil action as a whole, commenced by the service of the complaint), the Court found that the insurer had no duty to defend and affirmed an order granting it summary judgment.
Seventh Circuit Rejects Broad Interpretation of Claim Under Claims-Made Professional Liability Policy.pdf (pdf | 81.59 KB )