Steven Schwartz successfully represented an insurance broker in an appeal of a summary judgment ruling by the trial court. The plaintiff, an inflatable sport business, alleged negligence and breach of fiduciary duty by the broker involving a case in which a patron was paralyzed as a result of injuries at the business. The trial court had ruled that the sports business was not damaged from the broker’s alleged failure to notify the insurance company of the lawsuit filed by the injured party against the sports business because the business entered into an agreement with the injured party that allowed the injured party to take a judgment against the business that would be enforced only against the insurance company. The insurance company later settled with the injured party resulting in the sports business receiving $1.25 million out of that settlement, as part of its agreement with the injured party. The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District affirmed the trial court’s summary judgment in favor of the insurance broker, finding that the sports business was not injured by the insurance broker’s alleged negligence but, instead, actually profited from the incident.
Read the opinion here.