Mohan Groble Scolaro recently achieved a ruling in the Northern District of Illinois that an insurer must defend and indemnify its client as additional insureds over a slip-and-fall suit brought by the named insured’s worker.  The additional insured endorsement at issue provided coverage to additional insureds for bodily injury claims “caused by” the named insured’s work on the additional insured’s premises.  Much was made of the “caused by” language by the insurer, but Mohan Groble Scolaro  successfully advocated that like “‘arising out of’ language, the phrase ‘caused by’ is ‘both broad and vague’ —because causation can refer to either but-for or proximate causation — and ‘must be liberally construed in favor of the insured’”, as stated in the Court’s opinion.  Jeff Scolaro also successfully argued that because the insurer failed to defend the client under a reservation of rights or otherwise file a timely declaratory action of its own, the insurer must further indemnify them if they’re ultimately found liable.

To read the full article, please visit Law360.