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Insurance Coverage is Affirmed for Owner Because of My Work

On April 22, 2015, the Second Department appeals court issued a decision affirming a lower court decision that a landowner was entitled to (1) defense [i.e. payment of legal fees] and (2) indemnification [the insurance company has to cover a judgment] in a wrongful death case. I was the lead attorney on that case.

The lawsuit was related the tragic case where a young man, Amir Zeqiri, was working at a Dunkin Donuts at a strip mall in Smithtown. Around 9:00 PM on February 28, 2010, he was taking out trash to dumpsters located behind the building when he fell into a cesspool (technically a leaching pool) and drowned a short time after that.

The strip mall owner's insurance company was put on notice of the accident. But it turned out the insurance policy had an exclusion that the insurance company would not cover accidents occurring in the "parking lot" of the building. So, the insurance company sued the landowner in what is called a declaratory judgment action, trying to get out of having to provide coverage for the accident.

The owner contacted a law office that I was doing of counsel work for at the time, and we had to defend the owner to get him insurance coverage. I was the lead attorney and did by far the vast majority of investigation, research, and motion writing on the case.

I was able to successfully argue that no, the accident did not happen in a parking lot. The accident/death happened in the leaching pool; the leaching pool is related to the functioning of the building; and accidents related to the functioning of the building were covered under the policy--whether the area behind the building is considered a "parking lot" or not. The appeals court agreed.

I had to learn a lot about how commercial septic systems work, and the key document in the case was the detailed affidavit I drafted in consultation with septic system expert Vicent A. Gaudiello in Water Mill, who is excellent.

The outcome was good. It was good for the landowner, and it was good for the family of Amir Zeqiri in the separate wrongful death case because there is now insurance coverage for any possible judgment against the owner.

If you are a business owner, and your insurance company is refusing to cover a claim for you, contact The Law Office of Greg Curry at (516) 252-9500.

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