Insurance Claim – Workers’ compensation

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America v. Custom Mechanical Construction, Inc.

Case No.: 21-2548, 21-2549, & 21-2560

Officials: WOOD, ST. EVE, and JACKSON-AKIWUMI, Circuit Judges

Focus: Insurance Claim – Workers’ compensation

Danny Cope was injured on a job site in Kentucky and filed a workers’ compensation claim. The subcontractor who hired him for the project, Custom Mechanical Construction, Inc. (“CMC”), is based in Indiana and had an insurance policy with Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America (“AFICA”) at the time of the accident. Schultheis Insurance Agency and Lee Sublett (collectively, “Schultheis”) procured the policy for CMC, but Schultheis failed to inform AFICA that CMC did business in Kentucky. AFICA filed suit in federal court, seeking a declaration that its policy does not cover Cope’s claim. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of AFICA and entered partial final judgment under Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b). The dispositive question in this appeal is whether CMC’s insurance policy with AFICA covers workers’ compensation claims for workers who are injured outside of Indiana. Because CMC never notified AFICA that it had work (or began work) in Kentucky, we affirm.

Affirmed

Decided 09/27/22

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