Successful Prosecution of Declaratory Relief Action
May 2017, Scott Macdonald received an award in favor of his client in Murrieta, California in a Declaratory Relief matter in which our client sought the Court to find that it had no duty to defend and indemnify an action for wrongful death for a murder/suicide.
Policy holder shot and killed his significant other and then turned his weapon on himself. The heirs of the policy holder’s significant other filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Estate of the policy holder. The action against the Estate resulted in an award of $6.5 million dollars. We successfully litigated the issue that our client was under no obligation to indemnify the Estate for the judgment and that our client had no duty to defend the Estate.
The action was premised upon a lack of coverage as the actions of the policy holder were intentional. Attorneys for the heirs sought to argue that the policy holder suffered from PTSD and could not form the requisite intent. The matter was tried to a jurist with considerable experience with criminal law. The Judge found that the policy holder’s actions were intentional and even if they were not, the arguments of an inability to form intent would be unavailing under California coverage opinions.