Michael F. Schmidt Obtains Summary Judgment In Insurance Coverage Case In U.S. District Court

Reed, et al v Netherlands Insurance Company, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division.

Claim for insurance coverage by plaintiffs alleging that the defendant insurer owed coverage to the underlying defendant cemetery. We defended Netherlands Insurance Company and argued that the policy did not apply or provide coverage to the claims made in the underlying action against the Netherlands’ insured. We filed a motion for summary judgment raising multiple policy defenses including that the underlying claim that the defendant cemetery had misplaced and lost the plaintiffs’ mother’s body was not covered by the policy including because the claim for coverage occurred outside the policy period, that the claim did not occur until the plaintiffs discovered the alleged negligence, that there was no “bodily injury” or “property damage” as defined by the policy, that there was no “personal and advertising injury” as defined by the policy, that there was no coverage created by the Funeral Homes or Cemetery Endorsement, that coverage was excluded by the Exclusion – Funeral Services Endorsement, and that even if there was coverage, exclusions for “impaired property” and for property damage to that part of any property that must be restored, repaired or replaced, applied to bar coverage. After reviewing our initial motion and brief, a response brief, reply brief and supplemental briefs ordered by the court, the court agreed with our arguments and granted summary judgment by written opinion holding that there was no coverage provided by the policy for any of the claims made against the insured in the underlying suit.