Illinois Union Insurance Company v. Acer Restorations LLC
- Lorna Schofield
- 1:20-cv-01086
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Illinois Union v. Acer Restorations, Judge Schofield ordered plaintiffs to produce insurance underwriting guidelines after defendant failed to appear at a hearing.
The plaintiffs must produce the specified underwriting-guideline documents. Acer Restorations LLC is affected because the production was ordered in proceedings concerning the plaintiffs’ request for default judgment against it.
What happened
Illinois Union Insurance Company and other plaintiffs sought a default judgment against Acer Restorations LLC. The court had scheduled a hearing about that request, but Acer Restorations did not appear on November 12, 2020.
The plaintiffs alleged that their underwriting guidelines would have prevented them from issuing certain insurance policies to applicants involved in wood-floor sanding, stripping, or refinishing. The court stated that, under New York law, an insurer seeking to rescind a policy based on a material misrepresentation must provide documentation showing that it would not have issued the policy with accurate information.
Judge Schofield ordered the plaintiffs to produce the relevant underwriting guidelines by November 30, 2020. The order did not decide the request for default judgment or state the ultimate outcome of the insurance dispute.
The detailed version
- Illinois Union Insurance Company v. Acer Restorations LLC · No. 1:20-cv-01086
- Lorna Schofield
- Nov. 13, 2020
Background
The court had previously issued an order requiring Acer Restorations LLC to show cause why a default judgment should not be entered. Under a later court order, a hearing was held on November 12, 2020, and Acer Restorations did not appear.
Legal standard discussed
The order quoted New York law concerning an insurer’s effort to rescind an insurance policy because of a material misrepresentation. A misrepresentation is material if the insurer’s knowledge of the truth would have led it to refuse to issue the policy. To establish materiality as a matter of law, the insurer must provide underwriting materials—such as manuals, bulletins, or rules for similar risks—showing that it would not have issued the same policy if the correct information had been disclosed.
Order
The plaintiffs alleged that Illinois Union Insurance Company’s underwriting guidelines would cause it to decline a businessowners policy for an applicant involved in wood-floor sanding, stripping, or refinishing. They also alleged that ACE’s underwriting guidelines would cause it to decline a commercial umbrella liability policy for such an applicant.
The court ordered the plaintiffs to produce documentation of Illinois Union’s and ACE’s underwriting guidelines concerning insurance policies for applicants involved in wood-floor sanding, stripping, or refinishing by November 30, 2020. The order does not state that the court granted or denied default judgment and does not resolve the underlying insurance claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.