Admiral Insurance Company v. Smith Law Services, P.C.; Crothersville Lighthouse Tabernacle Church, Inc.; Jason M. Smith

District Court, S.D. Indiana·Decided July 24, 2026·No. 4:25-cv-00064·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA NEW ALBANY DIVISION

ADMIRAL INSURANCE COMPANY, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) No. 4:25-cv-00064-TWP-KMB ) SMITH LAW SERVICES, P.C., ) CROTHERSVILLE LIGHTHOUSE ) TABERNACLE CHURCH, INC., ) JASON M. SMITH, ) ) Defendants. ) ) ) CROTHERSVILLE LIGHTHOUSE ) TABERNACLE CHURCH, INC., ) JASON M. SMITH, ) ) Counter Claimants, ) ) v. ) ) ADMIRAL INSURANCE COMPANY, ) ADMIRAL INSURANCE COMPANY, ) ) Counter Defendants. )

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO DISMISS COUNTER CLAIMANT SMITH'S AMENDED COUNTER CLAIM

This matter is before the Court on Admiral Insurance Company's Motion to Dismiss Amended Counterclaim for Failure to State a Claim against Counter Claimant Jason M. Smith's ("Smith") (Dkt. 57). Plaintiff/Counter Defendant Admiral Insurance Company ("Admiral") initiated this lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment from the Court stating that they no longer must defend or indemnify Defendant Smith Law Services, P.C. ("Smith Law") or its President, Smith, in connection with an underlying legal malpractice suit filed by Defendant Crothersville Lighthouse Tabernacle Church ("Crothersville Church"). Crothersville Church has also filed a Counterclaim seeking a declaration that Admiral remains bound to indemnify Smith (Dkt. 23). Smith filed an Amended Counterclaim (Dkt. 56 at 15-32), which is his operative pleading. For the reasons discussed below, Admiral's Motion to Dismiss granted.

I. BACKGROUND Admiral issued a Lawyers Professional Liability Policy, Policy No. PLP-2015926-P1, with a policy period of March 27, 2022, to March 27, 2023 (the "Policy"), to Smith Law Service, P.C. (Dkt. 1-1). On or about November 17, 2022, the Crothersville Church filed a legal malpractice action (the "Malpractice Action") against Smith Law and Smith in Jackson County Circuit Court arising from Smith's representation of the Church in a civil case, relating to an insurance claim for a fire loss (Dkt. 1 at 5). Admiral received notice of the Malpractice Action on or about January 18, 2023, and appointed the law firm of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP to represent Smith and Smith Law in defense of the Malpractice Action. Id. Between August 2023 and March 13, 2024, neither Smith Law nor Smith responded to

Admiral or Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP when they tried to contact him via telephone, email, and mail to discuss settlement of claims in the Malpractice Action and a January 3, 2024 policy limit settlement demand. Id. at 6. Finally, on March 13, 2024, Smith responded and refused to consent to a settlement of the Malpractice Action. Id. Smith refused to consent to settlement again on March 15, 2024. Id. After March 15, 2024, Smith failed to respond to more than a dozen attempts by Admiral and Smith's defense counsel to reach him by telephone, by email, and by mail to discuss a defense plan in the Malpractice Action. Id. On June 3, 2024, the state court entered an order allowing defense counsel Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP to withdraw from the representation of Smith in the Malpractice Action and substituting new counsel. Id. Admiral thereafter appointed the law firm of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP to represent Smith. Id. Smith never substantively responded to new defense counsel's numerous attempts to reach him in and after July and has not responded to any of Admiral's attempts to reach him since March 15, 2024. Id. On January 17, 2025, because Smith refused to communicate, the law firm of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard

& Smith LLP moved to withdraw from the representation of Smith in the Malpractice Action. Id. That same day, Smith filed an Appearance in the Malpractice Action as attorney for Smith and a Notice of Intent to Proceed pro se without any communication with Admiral or his prior counsel. Id. On April 10, 2025, Admiral initiated this action seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify its insured, Smith Law or its President, Jason M. Smith in connection with an underlying legal malpractice lawsuit (Dkt. 1). Smith filed an Answer to the Complaint on July 16, 2025 (Dkt. 32), and on August 7, 2025, filed an Amended Answer and Counterclaims to Complaint for Declaratory Judgment (Dkt. 36). The original Counterclaims contained a long litany of Smith's complaints about other cases, disciplinary actions against him, and perceived mistreatment by the legal system in general. Id. at

16–22. Admiral promptly moved to dismiss arguing persuasively that "Smith fails to state a plausible claim for relief in the Counterclaim because the Counterclaim does not provide well- pleaded factual allegations to support the claims asserted, some of the claims asserted are not stand- alone causes of action and are redundant of other claims, and some claims are simply not applicable to Admiral under the facts of this case." (Dkt. 42 at 8). On December 23, 2025, Smith filed an Amended Answer, Affirmative Defenses & Counterclaims to the Complaint for Declaratory Judgment (Dkt. 56). The Amended Counterclaim deleted many of the irrelevant factual allegations made in the original Counterclaim, asserts seven causes of action against Admiral and contains sixty-eight "Factual Allegations." Id. at 16–29. On January 5, 2026, Admiral filed the instant Motion to Dismiss the Amended Counterclaim for Failure to State a Claim (Dkt. 57), and that Motion is now ripe for ruling. II. LEGAL STANDARD Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) allows a defendant to move to dismiss a complaint

that has failed to "state a claim upon which relief can be granted." Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). When deciding a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the Court accepts as true all factual allegations in the complaint and draws all inferences in favor of the plaintiff. Bielanski, 550 F.3d at 633; Cozzi Iron & Metal, 250 F.3d at 574 (similar standard for dismissal of a counterclaim). However, courts "are not obliged to accept as true legal conclusions or unsupported conclusions of fact." Hickey v. O'Bannon, 287 F.3d 656, 658 (7th Cir. 2002). Moreover, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c) permits the moving party to move for judgment on the pleadings after the pleadings are closed and before trial. Rule 12(c) motions are analyzed under the same standard as a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6). Pisciotta v. Old Nat’l Bancorp., 499 F.3d 629, 633 (7th Cir. 2007). The complaint must contain a "short and plain statement of the claim showing that the

pleader is entitled to relief." Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). In Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, the United States Supreme Court explained that the complaint must allege facts that are "enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level." 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S. Ct. 1955, 167 L. Ed. 2d 929 (2007). Although "detailed factual allegations" are not required, mere "labels," "conclusions," or "formulaic recitation[s] of the elements of a cause of action" are insufficient. Id.; see also Bissessur v. Ind. Univ. Bd. of Trs., 581 F.3d 599, 603 (7th Cir. 2009) ("it is not enough to give a threadbare recitation of the elements of a claim without factual support"). The allegations must "give the defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests." Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555.

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Admiral Insurance Company v. Smith Law Services, P.C.; Crothersville Lighthouse Tabernacle Church, Inc.; Jason M. Smith, (S.D. Ind. 2026).

Admiral Insurance Company v. Smith Law Services, P.C.; Crothersville Lighthouse Tabernacle Church, Inc.; Jason M. Smith (Admiral Insurance Company v. Smith Law Services, P.C.; Crothersville Lighthouse Tabernacle Church, Inc.; Jason M. Smith) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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