In insurance coverage litigation, does an insurance company have to identify and produce documents regarding the company’s handling of prior unrelated claims?
Insurance companies often object to such requests on the grounds that they are irrelevant, overly broad, unduly burdensome, and even protected by a privilege. In the Illinois Appellate Court Fifth District’s recent decision in Zagorski v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2016 IL App (5th) 140056, however, the appellate court rather emphatically held that the insured could seek such discovery, at least under the facts and ...
Klehr v. Illinois Farmers Ins. Co., No. 121843, 1st Dist. No. 1-12-1843
The plaintiff was a passenger in a car hit by an uninsured driver. She suffered substantial injuries. And, the driver of the car in which the plaintiff rode was underinsured. Thus, her medical costs were not fully covered by insurance from either of the drivers of the vehicles in the collision.
In 2007, the plaintiff (“insured”) filed a claim for the remainder of the costs under her personal insurance policy issued by the defendant insurer. She also invoked the policy’s arbitration clause to adjudicate the ...
In Burress-Taylor v. American Security Insurance Company, 2012 IL App (1st) 110554 (Cook Co. 5th Div.) (October 26, 2012), an Illinois appellate court recently reversed the dismissal of an insured’s complaint against her insurance company for alleged violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act (“Consumer Fraud Act”) (815 ILCS 505/1 et seq.).
The plaintiff alleged that in August of 2006 her home was damaged by a fire. The plaintiff had two insurance policies, both of which covered fire losses, and submitted claims to both. The first ...