Contractual Damages – Individual Privilege

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Creation Supply, Inc. v. George Cherrie

Case No.: 22-2300

Officials: Rovner, Kirsch, and Jackson-A Kiwumi, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Contractual Damages – Individual Privilege

Creation Supply, Inc., bought insurance from Selective Insurance Company of the Southeast. Selective denied coverage, and Creation sued for breach of contract and won. But Creation was not satisfied with its contractual damages and pursued costs and fees for Selective’s delay under section 155 of the Illinois Insurance Code. 215 ILCS 5/155. As this court explained two years ago, that remedy was unavailable, Creation Supply, Inc. v. Selective Insurance Co. of the Southeast, 995 F.3d 576 (7th Cir. 2021), although this court later noted that other breach-of-contract damages might yet be. Creation Supply, Inc. v. Selective Insurance Co. of the Southeast, 51 F.4th 759 (7th Cir. 2022). In addition to its section 155 damages suit, Creation brought these suits against Selective’s in-house lawyer, the lawyer’s supervisor, and its outside counsel here, alleging that they tortiously interfered with the contract between Selective and Creation. Corporations may be people, see 1 U.S.C. § 1, but as legal figments, they act in the flesh and blood world through their agents. In return, those agents are generally shielded from liability by the corporation for acts undertaken on its behalf.

Affirmed.

Decided 02/27/23

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