Scottsdale Insurance Company v. Lakeside Community Committee

2016 IL App (1st) 141845, 76 N.E.3d 1
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 1, 2016
Docket1-14-1845
StatusUnpublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2016 IL App (1st) 141845 (Scottsdale Insurance Company v. Lakeside Community Committee) 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
Scottsdale Insurance Company v. Lakeside Community Committee, 2016 IL App (1st) 141845, 76 N.E.3d 1 (Ill. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

2016 IL App (1st) 141845 No. 1-14-1845 Opinion filed November1, 2016 Second Division

IN THE

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

FIRST DISTRICT

SCOTTSDALE INSURANCE COMPANY, ) ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) v. ) ) LAKESIDE COMMUNITY COMMITTEE, ) ROBERT F. HARRIS, COOK COUNTY PUBLIC ) GUARDIAN, as Independent Administrator of the ) Estate of Angel Hill, Deceased, ANGEL GREEN ) AND ANTHONY PRATER, ) Appeal from the Circuit Court ) of Cook County. Defendants-Appellants. ) _________________________________________ ) LAKESIDE COMMUNITY COMMITTEE, ) No. 12 CH 23277 ) Counterclaim-Plaintiff, ) v. ) The Honorable ) Sophia Hall, SCOTTSDALE INSURANCE COMPANY, ) Judge, presiding. ) Counterclaim-Defendant. ) __________________________________________ ) LAKESIDE COMMUNITY COMMITTEE, ) ) Third Party-Plaintiff-Appellant, ) v. ) ) W.A. GEORGE INSURANCE AGENCY, ) ) Third Party-Defendant-Appellee. ) 1-14-1845

JUSTICE HYMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Justices Neville and Pierce concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

¶1 Tragically, two-year old Angel Hill was killed while in the care of her mother, Angel

Green, and her boyfriend, Anthony Prater. At the time of Angel’s death, she and her siblings

were wards of the court with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services acting as

the children’s guardian due to findings of abuse. DCFS retained Lakeside Community

Committee to monitor the children’s visits to Green’s home. During one visit, Green informed a

Lakeside caseworker of bruises on Angel’s stomach. The caseworker took no action. A few days

later, Angel was dead; Green and Prater were charged with her murder.

¶2 On behalf of Angel’s estate, the Cook County Public Guardian sued Lakeside for

wrongful death. Lakeside agreed to a consent judgment in the amount of $3.5 million and

assigned its claims against its insurer, Scottsdale Insurance Company, and its insurance broker,

W.A. George Insurance Agency, to the Public Guardian. Scottsdale denied coverage and filed a

declaratory judgment action. The Public Guardian then filed a third party complaint against W.A.

George, alleging fraud, negligence, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty in procuring

the insurance policy. The trial court dismissed the third party complaint on statute of limitations

grounds, finding Lakeside knew or should have known that W.A. George obtained the wrong

type of insurance policy when the policy was procured, more than two years before the third

party complaint was filed. We disagree and reverse. Lakeside’s cause of action accrued when it

learned its insurer was denying coverage, not when the policy was procured. Because Lakeside

filed its claim less than two years after learning of the denial of coverage, the statute of

limitations poses no bar to the action.

-2- 1-14-1845

¶3 BACKGROUND

¶4 Lakeside, a long-established non-profit corporation, contracts with DCFS to provide

foster care and child welfare services such as supervising foster families and children who have

been made wards of the state, including children victimized by abuse. In early 2009, Lakeside

asked W.A. George, an insurance broker, to obtain an appropriate insurance policy to cover its

services. Lakeside representatives met with W.A. George agents in February 2009 to provide

information about Lakeside’s insurance needs and discuss the nature of the business, including

its role as a DCFS contractor. Lakeside gave W.A. George a brochure describing Lakeside’s

programs and services and its affiliation with DCFS. Based on this information, W.A. George

applied for and obtained insurance from Scottsdale Insurance Company on Lakeside’s behalf.

The policy was a commercial general liability policy, effective until March 2010, and then

renewed for another year, to March 2011. In at least two places—the supplemental declarations

page and the “sexual and/or physical liability coverage form”—the policy erroneously described

Lakeside’s business as a “halfway house.”

¶5 Angel Hill’s Short Life and Tragic Death

¶6 Angel Hill spent her entire life in DCFS custody and foster care. Her mother, Angel

Green, came to the attention of DCFS in October 2006, when her two-month old son presented

with multiple physical injuries, including several broken bones and swelling and bruising to the

back of the head. The circuit court entered an order finding that Green’s two children had been

abused and neglected, made them wards of the court, appointed DCFS as their guardian, and

placed the two children in foster care with their grandmother. In November 2006, DCFS

assigned Lakeside to monitor and provide social services to the children and the family.

-3- 1-14-1845

¶7 Immediately after her birth in August 2008, Angel was placed in DCFS custody due to

the serious and substantial risk her mother posed. Like her two siblings, Angel’s grandmother

cared for her. In April 2010, the juvenile court granted Green overnight visits with her children

in her home, and by October 2010, the children were spending six days a week with Green.

When the juvenile court learned Green was dating Anthony Prater, a convicted murderer, the

court ordered Prater not be present during the children’s visits and required Lakeside to perform

unannounced visits to Green’s home to ensure the children’s safety and well-being.

¶8 Between October 6 and 11, 2010, the children stayed at Green’s home for an

unsupervised visit. On the morning of October 9, Green called a caseworker to check in. Green

told the caseworker Angel had a bruise on her stomach and had been crying overnight. The

Lakeside caseworker did not go to Green’s home to see the bruise, did not instruct Green to take

Angel to the hospital, and did not take any action to ensure Angel’s safety and welfare. On

October 11, Green claims she found Angel dead. An autopsy determined that Angel died from

multiple internal injuries caused by blunt force trauma. Green and Prater were charged with

murder, as well as other lesser offenses, in connection with Angel’s death.

¶9 The Circuit Court Proceedings

¶ 10 On March 22, 2012, the Public Guardian, as independent administrator of Angel Hill’s

estate, filed a complaint in the circuit court against Lakeside, Green, and Prater for wrongful

death. Lakeside settled with the Public Guardian and entered into a consent judgment in the

amount of $3.5 million. On April 6, 2012, Lakeside submitted the Public Guardian suit to

Scottsdale through W.A. George. Scottsdale denied the claim on May 4, 2012, and filed a

declaratory judgment action on June 12, 2012. (While this appeal was pending, the circuit court

granted Scottsdale’s motion for summary judgment, finding no coverage under the policy.)

-4- 1-14-1845

¶ 11 On August 10, 2012, Lakeside filed its answer, affirmative defenses, and counterclaim to

Scottsdale’s declaratory judgment action. Lakeside also filed its initial third-party complaint

against W.A. George, alleging fraud, negligence, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary

duty. Lakeside contended, in short, that it suffered damages because W.A. George failed to

procure the proper type of policy based on the information it provided and thus left Lakeside

without insurance coverage for the claim involving Angel’s death. W.A. George moved to

dismiss alleging, in part, that Lakeside’s third-party complaint was barred by the two year statute

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Related

American Family Mutual Insurance Company v. Krop
2018 IL 122556 (Illinois Supreme Court, 2018)
Scottsdale Insurance Co. v. Lakeside Community Committee
2016 IL App (1st) 141845 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2016 IL App (1st) 141845, 76 N.E.3d 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scottsdale-insurance-company-v-lakeside-community-committee-illappct-2016.