Insurer kept from cutting policy limit

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted December 26, 2018 11:53 AM

Because of a shortcut during discovery by the attorneys National Fire and Marine Insurance Co. selected to defend Erick Falconer M.D. in the wrongful-death case Lee Lindemann filed in downstate St. Clair County on behalf of the estate of Sue Ann Lindemann, U.S. District Judge David R. Herndon ruled that estoppel blocked National from invoking a “declining balance” provision in its policy to reduce its $1 million liability limit to $600,000 by subtracting the $400,000 National paid in defense expenses during two …

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