Litigation

HELPFUL CASE WHEN FIGHTING INSURERS ON FIRE CASES

By Mark P. Loftus, Esq.

Battling it out against one of the national insurance companies for failure to pay on a fire loss. In doing some research today, came across an excellent Illinois Appellate decision. The case, Norman v. American National Fire Insurance is a great read for those handling fire loss cases

The language I found particularly useful is at 198 Ill.App.3d 291. There, the 5th District Appellate Court, noted that "...Once arson was established as a possibility, defendant seemed to look only for clues that supported this theory. We believe that an insurer owns an insured more. An insurer should investigate every theory before labeling a fire as arson. Only after all other theories have been ruled out should an insurance company deny an insured's claim."

Great language. Hopefully it will help me get a Section 155 Count on file in my case, where the investigator honed in on my client as the source of the fire and never investigated an abundance of other evidence that clearly showed a person or persons unknown may have gained access to the property and burned it down. We'll see.

Full post as published by Illinois Lawyer Blog on November 02, 2010 (boomark / email).