TIG Insurance v. City of Elkhart

122 F. Supp. 3d 795, 2015 WL 4899426
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedAugust 17, 2015
DocketNos. 3:13cv902-PPS, 3:13cv992-PPS
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 122 F. Supp. 3d 795 (TIG Insurance v. City of Elkhart) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
TIG Insurance v. City of Elkhart, 122 F. Supp. 3d 795, 2015 WL 4899426 (N.D. Ind. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

PHILIP P. SIMON, Chief Judge.

These consolidated cases represent a dispute among insurance companies about who ends up holding the bag for a five million-dollar settlement of the City of Elkhart’s civil rights liability to Christopher Parish. The wrongful arrest and prosecution of Mr. Parish has caused a deluge of litigation. It began in November 1996, when Parish was charged with armed robbery and attempted murder based on the report of a home invasion and shooting of Elkhart, Indiana resident Michael Kershner. Elkhart Police Department Detective Steve Rezutko was the principal investigating officer. Parish was convicted in June 1998, but in December 2005, an Indiana appellate court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial, after which the criminal case was dismissed in December 2006. See Parish v. State of Indiana, 838 N.E.2d 495 (Ind. App.2005). Parish was released from custody in July 2006, after spending eight years in jail.

In September 2007, Parish brought a civil action in federal court asserting federal and state law claims for relief. In the first count under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, he alleged that the City of Elkhart and its police had violated his constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process, resulting in Parish’s wrongful arrest, prosecution and conviction. In the second count, Parish contended that the city and county were liable under the Indiana Tort Claims Act for false arrest, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional harm. Parish’s complaint also alleged that Rezut-ko falsely implicated him by staging a phony crime scene, fabricating and tampering with evidence, manipulating and coercing witnesses, and giving perjured testimony.

The case against Elkhart and Rezutko proceeded to trial before Judge Lozano. Parish prevailed, but the jury’s award of only $73,125 in compensatory damages and $5,000 in punitive damages was “astoundingly low for cases of wrongful conviction.” Parish v. City of Elkhart, 702 F.3d 997, 999 (7th Cir.2012). On appeal, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the jury’s determination of liability but remanded for a new trial on the issue of damages. Id. at 1003. Parish ultimately settled his suit for a total of $5 million, dismissing the civil case in January 2014. At the time the case was settled, the sole remaining claim was that Parish’s due process rights were violated by a wrongful conviction.

One of the defendants in this case, National Casualty Company, had issued Elk-hart a Law Enforcement Liability policy for the period from 1996 through 2000. The limits of liability under those policies were $1 million. NCC defended Elkhart and Rezutko in the civil case before Judge Lozano but it did so under a reservation of rights. No other insurer contributed to Elkhart’s defense. Ultimately, NCC coughed up the entire $5 million settlement amount plus all of the cost of the defense. This is one of the curious features of this case. Why did NCC pay $5 million when its yearly policy limits were $1 million? When asked at oral argument why NCC would pay $5 million to settle a case where the yearly limits of liability were only $1 million, it had no good an[799]*799swer other than to say that NCC insured Elkhart for five years — hence they forked over $1 million for each policy year. But if there is only one trigger date for insurance coverage (more on that in a moment), this may have been a questionable decision. What is equally perplexing is why the excess insurer for the year 1996 — the crucial year when, the majority of the bad deeds were done to Mr. Parish — wasn’t sued at all in this case. As we’ll soon see, NCC has sued the excess carriers for all other potentially relevant years — 1997-2008. Perhaps NCC settled with the excess carrier for the year 1996 or perhaps Elkhart had no excess coverage that year. These questions are somewhat beside the point for our present purposes but they remain a curiosity.

In this consolidated case, NCC seeks contribution toward the cost of defending the Parish suit and toward the settlement from other insurers who issued policies to Elkhart at various times. This case is greatly complicated by the number of years Mr. Parish’s nightmarish odyssey took to resolve and the number of different insurance companies that insured Elkhart during all those years. The simplest way to understand the intersection between when things happened to Mr. Parish and which company was providing the insurance at the time is through a chart. Here it is:

Insurer_Type of Insurance Term ._ Events _
National Cas. Company Primary LEL_3/1/1996-1/1/2001 Nov. '96 Parish charged
TIG Insurance Co. Excess/Umbrella 6/1/1997-3/1/2000 June '98 Parish __convicted
Markel Insurance Co. Excess/Umbrella 3/1/2000-1/1/2001
Zurich Specialties/ Primary LEL 1/1/2001-1/1/2003 Swiss Re International_
Selective Insurance Co. Excess/Umbrella ' 1/1/2001-1/1/2005
Northfield Insurance Primary LEL 1/1/2003-1/1/2004 Co._
Gemini Insurance Co. Primary LEL 1/1/2004-1/1/2005 Dec. '06 Criminal case _ dismissed
St. Paul Fire and Primary LEL 1/1/2005-1/1/2008 Sept. '07 § 1983 action Marine_filed
Clarendon American Excess/Umbrella 1/1/2005-1/1/2008 Insurance Co._

This consolidated litigation involves three separate pleadings: a first amended complaint by TIG which seeks a declaratory judgment, a counterclaim and third-party complaint by NCC, and an amended complaint by Gemini and Swiss Re also seeking declaratory relief. Now before me are three .motions for judgment on the pleadings — one from TIG Insurance, one from Gemini Insurance Company and Swiss Re International, and the third from St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company and Northfield Insurance Company, in which Clarendon' America Insurance Company has joined. A hearing on the motions was held on May 29, 2015.

Legal Standards

A motion for judgment on the pleadings is filed under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c) but is “governed by the same standards as a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6).” Lodhottz v. York Risk Services Group, Inc., 778 F.3d 635, 639 (7th Cir.2015). To survive such a motion, the complaint must state a claim that is plausible on its face, when the well-[800]*800pleaded facts are accepted as true and all inferences are drawn in the non-movant’s favor. ProLink Holdings Corp. v. Federal Ins. Co., 688 F.3d 828, 830 (7th Cir.2012). In evaluating a defendant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, I “must determine whether ‘the complaint sets forth facts sufficient to support a cognizable legal theory.’ ” Laborers Local 236 v. Walker, 749 F.3d 628, 632 (7th Cir.2014), quoting Scherr v. Marriott Int'l, Inc., 703 F.3d 1069, 1073 (7th Cir.2013).

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Bluebook (online)
122 F. Supp. 3d 795, 2015 WL 4899426, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tig-insurance-v-city-of-elkhart-innd-2015.