Dominick’s Finer Foods v. Indiana Insurance Co.

2018 IL App (1st) 161864 (Ill. App., 2018)

Words & Phrases

Definitions: Insured Premises

Trial Judge

Kathleen M. Pantle

Appellate Judge

Ellis

Holding

Insurer owed both defense and $1.3 million in indemnity for Dominick’s settlement of case involving shooting death in parking lot because policy’s bodily injury coverage extended to “liability arising out of premises.”

Fact Summary

This appeal involves a dispute over insurance coverage, after a young woman was killed and a man was injured in a shooting that took place in a parking lot outside Dominick’s Finer Foods (Dominick’s) on the northwest side of Chicago. When Dominick’s was sued by the decedent’s estate, it tendered its defense to insurers Netherlands Insurance Company (Netherlands) and Indiana Insurance Company (Indiana) and later sought indemnification as well. The insurers denied coverage, and Dominick’s filed suit for a declaration of coverage and damages for the insurers’ alleged bad-faith conduct.

After Dominick’s and Netherlands filed cross-motions for summary judgment, the trial court ruled in favor of Netherlands and against Dominick’s on all counts. The trial court entered language pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 304(a) (eff. Feb. 26, 2010), allowing an immediate appeal of these claims, while other litigation involving other parties continued in the trial court.

We hold that Netherlands owed Dominick’s a duty to defend and indemnify under the relevant language of the insurance policy. We thus reverse the grant of summary judgment in favor of Netherlands and remand this case for the entry of summary judgment in favor of Dominick’s on the issue of coverage. But we affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Netherlands on the claims of bad faith under section 155 of the Illinois Insurance Code (215 ILCS 5/155 (West 2014)) because even if we ultimately disagree with the insurers’ interpretation of the insurance policy, we do not find their position to have been unreasonable, and a bona fide dispute over coverage existed.

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