Underwriters at Interest at Lloyds of London and Certain Other Insurance Companies, et al. v. J. Neale MacDonald Company, Inc., et al.
Published: Apr. 15, 1995 | Result Date: Mar. 21, 1995 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: BC040169 – $0
Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Central
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
Christopher P. Wesierski
(Wesierski & Zurek LLP)
Experts
Plaintiff
Raoul D. Kennedy
(Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP)
(technical)
James Donovan
(technical)
Defendant
Michael Leahy
(Centaurus Financial Inc.)
(technical)
Facts
Plaintiffs certain Underwriters at Interest at Lloyds of London and other British insurance carriers sued Defendant J. Neale MacDonald Company, Inc. who were third party administrators.
Settlement Discussions
Defendants contend their pretrial offer was $150,000 with an indication they may go as high as $250,000; and Plaintiffs demanded a minimum of $350,000 with an indication they would accept $500,000 at trial. Plaintiffs contend they demanded $300,000 and Defendant offered $150,000.
Damages
Plaintiffs claimed that they had made various settlements in a number of lawsuits filed against them in a bad faith action; they made settlements on behalf of the insured in lawsuits filed against the insured because of MacDonald's acts; and they paid attorneys' fees for defense of the underlying action as well as attorneys' fees for defense of the bad faith action because of MacDonald's acts. Plaintiffs claimed $679,000 and pre-judgment interest of $150,000.
Other Information
A prior arbitration by John Girardi resulted in a Defense award; trial de novo by Plaintiffs. The issues presented at arbitration were different than those issues tried at the trial. Defense counsel received the entire file just a few weeks before trial from another firm. There were close to 150 exhibits introduced at trial, including various coverage opinions rendered for Plaintiffs, as well as numerous soils engineering reports and correspondence between various witnesses involved in the case.
Deliberation
13 hours
Poll
10-2
Length
12 days
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