Bdo Seidman, LLP v. Peter Harris

State: Illinois

Court: 1st District Appellate

Docket No: 1-06-2899 Rel

Case Date: 03/13/2008

Preview:FOURTH DIVISION March 13, 2008

No. 1-06-2899 BDO SEIDMAN, LLP, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PETER HARRIS, Individually and as Agent For Those Persons Subscribing to Insurance Policy No. 9624771 00; NICK WARD, Individually and as Agent For Those Persons Subscribing to Insurance Policy Nos. 9624772 00 and 9624773 00; SYNDICATE 2020 at Lloyd's of London (Lloyd's ); SYNDICATE 435 at Lloyd's; SYNDICATE 510 at Lloyd's; SYNDICATE 190 at Lloyd's; SYNDICATE 702 at Lloyd's; SYNDICATE 33 at Lloyd's; SYNDICATE 1207 At Lloyd's; 839 at Lloyd's; with all the respect to the 1999 year of account; LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY (UK) LIMITED; QBE INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE LIMITED; LEXINGTON INSURANCE COMPANY; and SR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS INSURANCE CO., LTD., Defendants-Appellees. JUSTICE O'BRIEN delivered the opinion of the court: Plaintiff, BDO Seidman, LLP, brought an insurance coverage action against defendants, the underwriters of plaintiff's professional liability policy, for their failure to indemnify plaintiff against a loss allegedly covered by the policy. The trial court granted defendants' motion to dismiss count I of plaintiff's fourth amended complaint that sought indemnification for $16 million of plaintiff's total loss under the policy. Plaintiff appeals pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 304(a) (155 Ill. 2d R. 304(a)). We affirm. Plaintiff is in the public accounting business and provided tax accounting services to ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County No. 02 CH 10438

Honorable Richard A. Seibel and Honorable Stuart E. Palmer, Judges Presiding.

No. 1-06-2899 James R. Gibson and certain entities controlled by Gibson, specifically, SBU, Inc., and related entities (SBU). SBU had operated as a structured-settlement company, promising to assume liabilities of defendants in personal-injury actions, and to provide personal-injury plaintiffs a stream of funds based on the future value of the obligations assumed from the defendants. In exchange for assuming the liabilities of defendants in personal-injury actions, SBU received proceeds from the underlying settlements, which it was supposed to invest in order to provide a return to the injured plaintiffs. SBU's contracts with the personal-injury plaintiffs required that it place the settlement proceeds in trust and invest them only in safe United States Treasury instruments, to ensure that they always would be available to cover long-term medical costs and other expenses. SBU was not required to report the funds as income, as funds invested in government securities qualify for exemption under Internal Revenue Code section 130 (26 U.S.C.

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