Summary Judgment Obtained In Declaratory Action By Michael F. Schmidt

Liberty Mutual Insurance Company v Kelly McClintic, U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Northern Division. We filed a declaratory complaint to obtain a ruling that Liberty Mutual did not owe coverage or a defense to its insured for an alleged dog bite causing serious injury to a minor child on her premises. After filing a declaratory complaint and obtaining sufficient discovery to support the coverage defenses we filed a motion for summary judgment on the basis that there was no coverage available due to the policy’s business exclusion and based upon an exclusion of liability coverage for any intentional concealment, or misrepresentation of a material fact, fraudulent conduct or false statements made by the insured relating to the insurance. We argued that discovery established that the insured was operating a daycare business out of her home, that the minor child was an attendee of her daycare operation and that the insured had misrepresented on the insurance application that there was no business operated out of the residence and no daycare provided at the insured residence. The defendant responded that she had not continually operated a daycare out of the premises and that she had not prepared the application and had only had signed it. The trial court granted summary judgment in our favor, in a written opinion finding that the insured was operating a daycare business out of her residence, that the minor child was an attendee of the daycare operation and that the business exclusion unequivocally excluded coverage.