Troisi, Misiti and Mulholland Secure Dismissal of Tortious Interference Claim
October 10, 2019 | |Michael Troisi, Frank Misiti and Laura Mulholland secured pre-answer dismissal of a tortious interference with contract claim asserted against our insurance company client.
Plaintiffs asserted that our client tortiously interfered with a contract entered into between plaintiffs and their supplementary uninsured motorist (SUM) insurer, based on our client having “rushed to send” a settlement check, without first obtaining the SUM insurer’s approval of the settlement. We moved to dismiss arguing that the claim was barred by the three-year statute of limitations, and that the statute began to run when the SUM insurer denied coverage. Plaintiffs argued that the statute of limitations ran from when the claim first became enforceable, meaning when actual damages were sustained.
United States District Court Judge Dora L. Irizarry rejected Plaintiffs’ argument, noting that in coverage disputes, a plaintiff’s injury occurs at the moment coverage is denied, and granted our motion dismissing the complaint as asserted against our client with prejudice.