Chris Bannon and Amber LaFevers Obtain Summary Judgment In Favor of Legal Professional Liability Insurer

07.14.15

Commercial litigators Christopher J. Bannon and Amber O. LaFevers recently obtained summary judgment in favor of the firm’s client, a legal professional liability insurer, in a coverage action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

The insured attorney contended that the insurer had a duty to defend and indemnify him in an underlying suit in which the only claim against him was for fraud. But the court agreed with the insurer’s position that the policy could not provide coverage for a claim solely based on fraud.

In granting summary judgment, the court rejected the insured’s argument that the insurer must defend any suit arising out of the rendering of professional services, even if a policy exclusion applies to the suit. Consequently, the court declared that the firm’s client had no duty to defend or indemnify the insured attorney in connection with the underlying fraud suit.