Lamorak Insurance Co. v. Kone Inc.

2018 IL App (1st) 163398 (Ill. App., 2018)

Words & Phrases

Primary V. Excess Insurance

Trial Judge

Rodolfo Garcia

Appellate Judge

Neville

Holding

Policies written over SIR can be considered primary policies for purposes of horizontal exhaustion.

Fact Summary

When a former employee sued Kone, Inc. (Kone), for injuries suffered due to long-term exposure to asbestos, Kone notified all the insurance companies that sold policies to Kone during the employee’s long tenure. One of the insurers, Lamorak Insurance Company (Lamorak), argued that the policies it sold to Kone for the years 1977 to 1985 counted as excess insurance because Kone had agreed to a self-insured retention (SIR) instead of a deductible for those years. Kone filed a counterclaim that included a request for a judgment declaring that Lamorak’s policies provided primary coverage. The circuit court granted Kone’s motion for summary judgment on that part of its counterclaim. On Lamorak’s appeal from the partial summary judgment, we find that Lamorak’s policies bear the characteristics of primary insurance. Accordingly, we affirm the circuit court’s judgment.

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