ST. LOUIS — A federal judge granted a motion for partial summary judgment in a case alleging an insurance company refused to represent it in a lawsuit.
U.S. District Court Judge Henry Edward Autrey granted the defendant's motion for partial summary judgment and further ordered that the judgment would be entered after the resolution of the remaining issues, according to the March 23 opinion, memorandum and order.
The underlying complaint against Post Foods alleged it had too much sugar in its cereals that had "dire physiological consequences."
Autrey held that the defendant correctly argued that the plaintiff had agreed with the defendant's position on noncoverage when it entered into a claim withdrawal agreement, which withdrew the demand for coverage, according to the order.
"Based upon the foregoing analysis, the record establishes that no material issues of fact are in dispute and Defendant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law," Autrey wrote. "Defendant has no obligation to reimburse Plaintiffs for any 'pre-tender' defense costs incurred in connection with the Krommenhock Suit under the Policies."
Post Holdings Inc. and Post Foods LLC had several commercial general liability policies beginning in 2014 with Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company, according to a complaint filed Oct. 12, 2018, in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
The plaintiffs claim in 2016, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Post Foods in California federal court and Post notified Liberty about the lawsuit in a timely manner, however, Liberty concluded that insurance coverage was unavailable for the claim under the policies, even though Post believes Liberty was obligated to defend Post Foods in the underlying lawsuit.
Post claims it had paid all premiums that were due under the Liberty policies and had satisfied all conditions of the coverage under the policies.It also argued that Liberty breached its contract and caused the company to incur defense costs of more than $2 million since Liberty has refused to defend the company in the litigation.
Post is seeking the court to order Liberty to defend it in the underlying case, as well as pre- and post-judgment interest. It is represented by Christopher J. Leopold, Scott C. Hecht and Christopher B. Sevedge of Stinson Leonard Street LLP in Kansas City.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri-Eastern Division case number: 4:18-cv-01741