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Insurance – Indemnification

By: Derek Hawkins//September 15, 2015//

Insurance – Indemnification

By: Derek Hawkins//September 15, 2015//

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Civil

WI Court of Appeals – District II

Officials: Neubauer, C.J., Reilly, P.J., and Gundrum, J.

Insurance – Indemnification

2014AP2484 Water Well Solutions Service Group Inc. v. Consolidated Insurance Company

This is an insurance coverage dispute arising out of the allegedly negligent installation of a water pump in a municipal well. In the underlying complaint, the subrogated insurer of the municipal utility sued the water well contractor, alleging negligent work. The water well contractor tendered its defense and indemnity to its commercial general liability insurer, which denied any duty to defend or indemnify. That case settled. The water well contractor then brought this action against its insurer, alleging breach of the duty to defend and bad faith. The circuit court granted summary judgment to the insurer, finding that the underlying complaint did not allege a covered claim because certain business risk exclusions applied. The water well contractor urges us to look outside the four corners of the complaint to find coverage. We decline this invitation to depart from the well-established Wisconsin rule that the allegations in the complaint are what we look at to determine whether there is a duty to defend. The water well contractor also argues that we should ignore the exclusions in the policy when determining the duty to defend. This would also be a departure from established Wisconsin law. We affirm the circuit court’s grant of summary judgment to the insurer.

Decision

Affirmed

Full Text


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.

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