Illinois high court remands construction case back to trial court
Reprints
The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday remanded a case back to the trial court to determine whether an insurer must defend a construction company under exclusions in its commercial general liability policy.
The underlying litigation in Acuity, a Mutual Insurance Co. v. M/I Homes of Chicago LLC involves a lawsuit filed by a townhouse development’s homeowners association that is charging the contractor with breach of contract and implied warranty of habitability.
The association alleged that M/I Homes’ subcontractors caused construction defects by using defective materials, conducting faulty workmanship and failing to comply with applicable business code.
M/I Homes sought a defense from Acuity as an additional insured on a CGL policy it issued to one of its subcontractors.
Sheboygan, Wisconsin-based Acuity filed suit seeking a declaratory judgment, and M/I filed a cross motion in the case. A circuit court granted summary judgment in Acuity’s favor.
An appellate court overturned that ruling, holding that the lawsuit’s broad allegations were sufficient to trigger Acuity’s duty to defend.
The state supreme court said in its unanimous ruling that “to ultimately resolve whether Acuity has a duty to defend, we think it best to remand to the trial court for further consideration.”
On remand, it said, the court will determine whether policy exclusions bar coverage and thus the duty to defend, it said.
Attorneys in the case did not respond to requests for comment.
