Cotkin stepped in the middle of a spat happening within St. John Missionary Baptist Church, whose members had been bickering over getting rid of a pastor.
Her issue was not with the church, but rather its insurer, Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company, which had been providing defense for the pastor whose leadership was called into question in Kern County Superior Court.
In the middle of the dispute, however, the insurance company deemed the matter over because a judge had forced a vote on whether to remove Pastor Antonio Alfred. So Philadephia Indemnity wanted to yank its coverage defending the matter. But the issue was not resolved, according to Cotkin.
The vote let Alfred keep his job, but the group who wanted him removed said many ballots were not counted due to who was technically considered a "member" of the church.
Philadephia Indemnity "reversed course and continued the defense, but insisted on an insurance arbitration, adding a reimbursement claim," according to Cotkin.
"During the coverage arbitration, the insurer argued not only that they could stop defending, but they could recover back what they spent: hundreds of thousands of dollars, which would have bankrupted the church, its pastor and the deacons," Cotkin said. "We found the case law, addressed the facts and quoted the policy terms to convince the panel of arbitrators we were right."
The panel agreed, finding the company needed to continue its coverage without reimbursement. Ultimately, Alfred was able to keep his role as pastor.
Saul Sugarman
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