Practice Area: Insurance Coverage

Pretzel & Stouffer partners, Robert Chemers and Scott Howie, succeeded in having an adversary’s appeal dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction in the Appellate Court of Illinois, First District. In a declaratory judgment action, the circuit court entered judgment for the firm’s client, an insurer, holding that it had no duty to defend its insured …

Pretzel & Stouffer attorneys Richard Waris, Jim Sipchen, Quinn Donnelly, and Scott Howie obtained an affirmance in the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, of the dismissal of an action against several defendants, including an insurance company and another law firm. The appeal concerned the alleged settlement of a previous tort action during the trial of …

Robert Chemers, Rich Burgland, and Paula Villela, recently secured summary judgment for their client, a liability insurance carrier, which was found to have no duty to defend a general contractor in an action alleging construction defects and conversion of the claimant’s property. The underlying claimant brought an action against the general contractor for negligence in …

Robert Chemers and Jonathan Federman successfully argued on appeal for a modification of a judgment against its client in a stacking case in Southern Illinois. In a published Opinion, the Appellate Court, 5th District agreed that coverage within a policy of insurance could not be stacked four separate times. The Court agreed that an amended …

Robert Chemers and Rich Burgland obtained a major victory for their insurer client in the Mississippi Supreme Court. With the help of local counsel, Dorrance Aultman, Robert and Rich successfully defended an appeal by two claimants. The claimants sought coverage for a wrongful death lawsuit arising out of the death of their adult son who …

Brendan Nelligan and Dave Larson, recently won an appeal in the Illinois Appellate Court, Second District, which affirmed an order of summary judgment in a declaratory judgment action brought on behalf of Pretzel’s client, an insurance company. The appellate court adopted Pretzel’s argument that their insurer client owed no duty to defend or indemnify an …

Two motions for summary judgment granted for two clients in two counties on one day.  Donald Eckler, Matthew Ligda, and Jonathan Federman obtained summary judgment for two insurers on a claim of bad faith in one case and an alleged violation of the Consumer Fraud Act in another. The bad faith case arose out of …

Richard Waris, Brendan Nelligan, and Matthew Ligda, successfully defended an insurance producer against a claim for negligent procurement of insurance brought in federal court by a minor-league hockey player who lost an eye during a game. In 2014, the injured player sued the league and obtained an $800,000 judgment. Thereafter, the player brought a declaratory …

David Bennett and Rich Burgland recently obtained summary judgment in favor of their insurer client. The court found that their client had no duty to defend an underlying lawsuit seeking damage to residential apartment units from the insured’s allegedly faulty roof work. The court agreed with Dave’s and Rich’s arguments that both counts against the …