Contractual Exclusion of Insurance Coverage

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Barbara Streit, et al. v. Metropolitan Casualty Insurance Company

Case No.: 16-3203

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, ROVNER and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Contractual Exclusion of Insurance Coverage

On August 5, 2014, Wesley Streit Jr. set fire to the house where he lived with his parents, Barbara and Wesley Streit. At the time of the fire, the Streits’ home was insured by Metropolitan Insurance Company. Under the Streits’ insurance policy, Wesley Jr.’s act of arson triggered a contractual exclusion of coverage. The Streits still submitted a claim, but pursuant to the policy’s language, Metropolitan refused to cover the fire damage. Barbara and Wesley Streit sued, claiming that the exclusion in the Metropolitan policy was inconsistent with the Illinois Standard Fire Policy. The district court granted partial summary judgment in favor of the Streits, ruling that the Metropolitan policy impermissibly narrowed the coverage mandated by the Illinois Standard Fire Policy. We affirm. The Illinois Standard Fire Policy sets a minimum threshold for what fire-insurance policies must cover, and Metropolitan failed to provide that coverage.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.