Cassidy v. Derek Bryant Insurance Brokers, Ltd.

613 N.E.2d 1201, 244 Ill. App. 3d 1054, 184 Ill. Dec. 609, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 330
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 16, 1993
Docket1-91-2841
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 613 N.E.2d 1201 (Cassidy v. Derek Bryant Insurance Brokers, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cassidy v. Derek Bryant Insurance Brokers, Ltd., 613 N.E.2d 1201, 244 Ill. App. 3d 1054, 184 Ill. Dec. 609, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 330 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE McCORMICK

delivered the opinion of the court:

This case arises from an extraordinarily unsuccessful insurance program for which valid claims are more than twice the total premiums collected. Forum Insurance Company (Forum) issued the insurance; Will Darrah & Associates, Inc. (Darrah), as managing general agent, sold the insurance; and Derek Bryant Insurance Brokers, Ltd. (Derek), procured reinsurance for most of Forum’s risk from a group of underwriters acting in syndicates at Lloyd’s, London. Each of these four parties sued the other three, and the parties have now settled most of the suits.

Forum assigned its claim against Derek to the underwriters as part of Forum’s settlement with the underwriters. The underwriters then amended their complaint to add the assigned claims. The trial court dismissed the assigned claims, finding that they did not relate back to the underwriters’ original complaint or to Forum’s original counterclaim and, therefore, they were barred by the statute of limitations. The underwriters appeal from the interlocutory order dismissing the assigned claims.

We affirm in part and reverse in part. First, we must determine the appropriate standard for deciding whether the assigned claims relate back to the date of filing either the original complaint or the original counterclaim. We find that the claims do not relate back to the original complaint, but some of the claims relate back to the counterclaim. We find that some of the claims were barred by the statute of limitations before Forum filed the original counterclaim, so we affirm dismissal of those claims. We reverse dismissal of the claims which relate back to the original counterclaim and which were not time-barred when Forum filed that counterclaim.

Although Forum had no prior experience underwriting or managing programs of commercial vehicle insurance, in 1981 it agreed to insure truckers and other owners of commercial vehicles. Darrah wrote the insurance and handled the claims in exchange for a commission based on the amount of premiums collected. Although Forum issued the policies and, therefore, was liable for the policy risk, Forum retained little of the risk because it obtained reinsurance. Derek and its American affiliate, Derek Bryant Associates, Inc. (collectively, Bryants), obtained reinsurance for Forum’s risk first from Anthony Ardagh Cassidy, active underwriter for a Lloyd’s, London, syndicate. With Cassidy acting as lead underwriter, Bryants obtained reinsurance for percentages of Forum’s risk from other Lloyd’s syndicates in exchange for percentages of the premiums paid on the policies.

After Forum obtained further reinsurance outside of Lloyd’s for the first year of the program, which ran from September 15, 1981, to September 30, 1982, Forum bore none of the risk of loss between $0 and $25,000 on each policy, and only 12.5% of the risk of loss between $25,000 and $350,000. The underwriters in the Lloyd’s syndicates bore 87.5% of the risk of loss from $0 to $350,000. As Forum retained only a small part of the risk, it claimed only a small percentage of the premiums.

In October 1982, Bryants obtained reinsurance for the second contract year of the program, from October 1, 1982, to September 30, 1983, on essentially the same terms as those applicable to the first year. Darrah sold a large number of policies to many different concerns. In October 1983, Bryants again obtained reinsurance for Forum’s risks in the third contract year of the program, ending September 30, 1984, but only a few of the underwriters who participated in the first two years agreed to participate in the third year. The underwriters who continued to participate agreed with Bryants to “premium income limits” so that the program would limit sales of new insurance and thereby limit risks.

The remaining underwriters, displeased with results from the first three years of the program, sought to reduce their participation in the program. For contract year four, which the parties shortened to run from October 1, 1984, to December 31, 1984, the underwriters bore only 22.5% of the policy risk of loss between $0 and $350,000. Forum obtained other reinsurance, but increased its share to 21% of the risk from $0 to $350,000. The underwriters did not participate at all in the fifth and final contract year of the program, which was calendar year 1985. Forum retained 40% of the risk of loss from $0 to $350,000 on each policy written that year. Total losses on all policies written during the five years of the program have exceeded $50 million.

In May 1987 Cassidy, on behalf of the underwriters, sued Forum, Darrah and Bryants. In an earlier interlocutory appeal, this court found that Cassidy, as lead underwriter for the program, had authority to bring suit in his own name on behalf of all underwriters in the Lloyd’s syndicates that subscribed to the program. Cassidy v. Forum Insurance Co. (1990), 204 Ill. App. 3d 196, 561 N.E.2d 1167.

Cassidy alleged that Darrah, Forum and Bryants negligently, and in breach of their fiduciary duties to the underwriters, failed to collect and send timely and accurate information concerning insurance losses throughout the duration of the program. The underwriters relied on the inaccurate information in the reports they received from Bryants when they decided to renew the reinsurance, to their substantial detriment. According to the underwriters’ contract with Forum, Bryants were intermediaries of the reinsurance contract, and as such, all communications relating to the program were to be transmitted through Bryants. Cassidy further claimed in his original complaint that Darrah and Forum breached their reinsurance contracts for the third and fourth years of the program, covering October 1, 1983, to December 31, 1984, by writing insurance in excess of the premium income limits for that period.

Forum filed its original counterclaim against Bryants on March 17, 1989, alleging that if there were premium income limits for contract years three and four, then those limits bound Forum “only if it be determined that Bryant *** offered or accepted the terms on Forum’s behalf,” and that determination would be based on “an apparent authority. Forum did not extend any actual authority, express or implied, to Bryant *** to offer or accept the premium income limits on its behalf.”

Forum also alleged that Darrah and Bryants, who had principal offices in the same building in South Carolina, arranged this program with the underwriters before contacting Forum and several other insurance companies to find one willing to write the insurance. Forum acted solely as a fronting company, allowing the underwriters indirectly to write commercial vehicle liability insurance. The underwriters and Darrah controlled the program, and Darrah took instructions from the underwriters, not Forum. Forum relied on the underwriters and their agents, Darrah and Bryants, to run the program prudently and advise Forum of adverse developments. Darrah negligently, and in breach of its fiduciary duty to Forum, failed to collect and send accurate information on the program and failed to adhere to guidelines for writing policies and settling claims.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
613 N.E.2d 1201, 244 Ill. App. 3d 1054, 184 Ill. Dec. 609, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 330, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cassidy-v-derek-bryant-insurance-brokers-ltd-illappct-1993.