Suit claiming little effort to settle fizzles

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted January 17, 2017 1:27 PM

It looked like West Side Salvage — with $12 million in liability insurance that included a secondary level of $11 million in coverage from RSUI Indemnity Co. — had all the ingredients for an “excess judgment” claim based on a $21 million verdict in a case where a grain elevator exploded and severely injured John Jentz and Robert Schmidt.ConAgra, the owner of the storage tower, hired West Side to eliminate explosion hazards. When Jentz and Schmidt sued ConAgra and West Side, ConAgra turned around and …

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