West American Insurance Co. v. Yorkville National Bank

State: Illinois

Docket No: 108285 Rel

Case Date: 09/23/2010

Preview:Docket No. 108285.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

WEST AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellee, v. YORKVILLE NATIONAL BANK et al., Appellants. Opinion filed September 23, 2010.

JUSTICE BURKE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justices Thomas, Kilbride, Garman, and Karmeier concurred in the judgment and opinion. Justice Freeman dissented, with opinion.

OPINION The issue in this case is whether the insured violated its liability insurance policy by failing to give timely written notice to the insurer as specified in the policy, thereby relieving the insurer of its duties to defend and indemnify. The appellate court held that the insured breached the policy's notice provision and was therefore not entitled to coverage. 388 Ill. App. 3d 769. For the following reasons, we reverse the appellate court. BACKGROUND On September 24, 2001, Sheryl Kuzma filed a defamation lawsuit

in the circuit court of Will County against Yorkville National Bank (Yorkville) and its vice president, Bernard Wiegmann. Kuzma alleged that Wiegmann uttered certain false statements in his official capacity which damaged her professional reputation. At the time of the alleged defamation in November 2000, Yorkville was covered by a commercial general liability policy and commercial umbrella policy (collectively, the Policy) issued by West American Insurance Company (West American) for the period of September 17, 2000, to September 17, 2001. West American is owned by the Ohio Casualty Insurance Company (Ohio Casualty). The Policy lists the ZeiterDickson Insurance Agency (Zeiter-Dickson) as the agent. ZeiterDickson, at all relevant times, was an approved insurance agent of Ohio Casualty and West American. On March 9, 2004, West American filed a declaratory judgment action denying coverage under the Policy based on late notice. Yorkville did not submit written notice of a claim for coverage until January 19, 2004, approximately 27 months after the defamation lawsuit was filed. The Policy's notice provision states: "SECTION IV

Download West American Insurance Co. v. Yorkville National Bank.pdf