Tony's Finer Foods Enterprises, Inc. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, London

2024 IL App (1st) 231712 (Ill. App., 2024)

Words & Phrases

Duty To Defend: In General

Trial Judge

Joel Chupack

Appellate Judge

Van Tine

Holding

In an insurance coverage matter, the de¬fendant insurance company appealed from a trial court order granting summary judg¬ment in favor of the plaintiff and finding that the defendant had a duty to defend the plaintiff in a class action lawsuit filed by the plaintiff’s employees that alleged violations of the Biometric Information Privacy Act. On appeal, defendant argued that it had no duty to defend because the allegations of the complaint did not potentially fall within the coverage of the insurance policy at issue and that the plaintiff did not timely report the lawsuit. The appellate court reversed and remanded, finding that there was no duty to defend because the data breach section of the policy relied on by the plaintiffs only applied to allegations that an unauthorized third party accessed individuals’ personal information. The appellate court also found that the policy specifically excluded cover¬age of claims like the ones contained in the plaintiff’s complaint.

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