Daniel Scapellati and Rachel Fain of the Insurance Law Group successfully defended State Farm in an action seeking to enforce a businessowners’ insurance policy between State Farm and an insured. In a prior action, a former employer of the State Farm insured sought to recover damages against the insured under several theories of liability, including: breach of an employment contract, breach of the duty of loyalty, tortious interference with business expectations, civil conspiracy, conversion, civil theft, defamation, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Secrets Act. Pursuant to our recommendation, State Farm denied coverage under the policy for the underlying lawsuit.
The parties in the underlying lawsuit entered into a stipulated judgment. Thereafter, in a second action, the former employer sought to enforce the State Farm policy and to collect the amount of the stipulated judgment. We were able to obtain summary judgment in State Farm’s favor on the grounds that the claims in the underlying lawsuit were based on intentional and malicious conduct expressly excluded from coverage under the State Farm policy. Based on this exclusion, the Court held that State Farm had no duty to defend or indemnify in the underlying action and entered judgment in its favor.