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Chubb unit prevails in Irma dispute with tennis academy

Posted On: Jan. 16, 2020 1:25 PM CST

Chubb

A Chubb Ltd. unit prevailed in litigation with a tennis academy Wednesday in a dispute over an alleged late claims payment involving property damage caused by Hurricane Irma.

Rigby Enterprises LLC, a luxury tennis academy and boarding school in Naples, Florida, said it sustained $8.6 million in damages from the 2017 hurricane, according to Wednesday’s ruling by the U.S. District Court in Fort Myers, Florida in Rigby Enterprises LLC v. Westchester Surplus Lines Insurance Co.

Rigby filed suit against its insurer, Chubb Ltd. unit Westchester Surplus Lines Insurance Co., charging breach of contract because of the insurer’s alleged failure to compensate it for the full amount of its damages and loss resulting from the hurricane, according to the ruling.

Westchester contended the parties never agreed to the amount of loss, and that it was therefore under no obligation to pay under the terms of the policy.

Rigby filed a motion seeking partial summary judgment in its favor on the issue of Westchester’s alleged late payment. The District Court refused to grant the motion in Wednesday’s ruling.

Rigby provided Westchester with loss statements totaling $8.6 million on Oct. 24, 2018, said the ruling.

Westchester sent a letter to Rigby rejecting the statements, disagreeing with the sums claimed, and requesting more information on Nov. 2, 2018.

Rigby said Westchester’s payment was due Nov. 23, 2018, 30 days after it had provided the loss statements, but instead Westchester paid Rigby $703,038.12 on Jan. 28, 2019, 46 days later.

“Because an agreement as to the ‘amount of loss’ is required to trigger the insurer’s obligation to pay within 30-days under the Loss Payment provision, and there is no evidence that the parties reached an agreement as to the amount of loss, the payment obligation under the Loss Payment provision was not triggered,” said the court, in denying Rigby’s motion for partial summary judgment in the case.

Attorneys in the case could not be reached for comment.

In November, the U.S. District Court in For Myers refused to dismiss litigation filed by a roofing company that charged an American International Group Inc. unit with breach of contract for refusing to pay for more than $6 million in damage to a condominium caused by Hurricane Irma.