Absent claimant not bound by coverage judgment in prior suit

Insurance Matters

By Don R. Sampen

Don R. Sampen is a member of the appellate practice group of Clausen, Miller P.C., where he focuses on appellate, commercial and insurance-related litigation. He also teaches insurance law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. His column appears twice monthly.

Posted August 13, 2019 9:57 AM

The 1st District Appellate Court recently held that res judicata could not be used by an insurer to support its no-coverage position against a claimant where the claimant was not a party to the earlier lawsuit from which the res judicata argument arose.The insurer in Direct Auto Insurance Co. v. Bahena, 2019 IL App (1st) 172918 (June 13, 2019), was represented by Newman Ransom LLC. Keely Hillison with Parrillo Weiss LLC represented the claimant, Noel Hernandez, who had brought suit against Direct Auto’s insureds …

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