CM Obtained Defenses Verdict for Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London
January 2, 2008
On December 19, 2007, a jury sitting in United States District Court, in the Southern District of New York, returned a defense verdict in favor of Clausen Miller’s client, Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London. The case was tried by Malcolm J. Reilly of Clausen Miller’s New York office.
The Plaintiff, Alex & Alex Diamond Inc., a wholesale jewelry business located in New York City, made a claim under a Jewelers Block Policy issued through Lloyd’s of London, for the loss of jewelry stolen from an automobile in San Francisco, California in January of 2005. The Underwriters at Lloyd’s denied the claim on several grounds, including the fact that the jewelry was stolen from an unattended automobile in violation of the policy’s unattended automobile condition requiring a permanent employee of the insured be in or upon the vehicle at the time of the loss.
At trial, the plaintiff’s salesman testified that the jewelry was stolen while he was sitting in his car and an unknown assailant smashed the passenger side window, grabbed the leather briefcase containing the jewelry from the passenger side seat, and made good on his escape by foot. On cross-examination, Malcolm Reilly established that the salesman had given conflicting versions of his account of the robbery at his earlier deposition, and that the deposition testimony conflicted with his testimony at trial and the account contained in the San Francisco Police Department report. Mr. Reilly then offered the testimony of the independent insurance adjuster who testified that his investigation of the loss supported the conclusion that the salesmen was in a local retail jewelry store at the time of the robbery and not in the automobile as required by the terms and conditions of the policy.
Plaintiff’s offer of settlement before trial was not accepted. The jury took less than two hours to return with a verdict finding that the salesman was not in the automobile at the time the robbery took place.
