The Nation Law Firm represents two large car dealerships who had been sued in major class actions.  Universal Underwriters Insurance Company insured both dealerships.  The dealers asked Universal Underwriters to defend and indemnify them for the claims in the class actions. Universal agreed to defend the claims, but advised that even though the class actions covered multiple years, the dealers were only entitled to indemnity coverage under one of policy years. Each dealer carried $500,000 in indemnity coverage per year for most of the years involved in the class actions. Therefore, it was Universal’s position that the dealers were only entitled to $500,000 in coverage, while the dealers believed that they were entitled to up to the full policy limits per year for each of the years involved in the class actions.

The dealers retained The Nation Law Firm to sue Universal.  In our lawsuit, we asked the court to declare that each of the dealers had up to their full policy limits for each of the years involved in the class actions.  After intensive discovery and briefing on the issue, each party moved for summary judgment.  On March 28, 2008, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled in the dealers’ favor, and found a that each of the policies for every year involved in the class actions was triggered, and provided indemnity coverage up to the applicable liability limit. A copy of the court’s ruling can be downloaded here.

This Order is a major victory for our clients, and for insureds sued in class actions throughout the United States. The federal judge who ruled in the case noted that there were no other cases which dealt with this issue, and found that this was a case of first impression.  As a result of this victory, we have been consulted by many other car dealers and their lawyers who are involved in similar battles with their insurance companies.

We thank our clients involved in this case for placing their confidence in us, and allowing us to help them in this hard fought battle.

The Nation Law Firm represent policyholders from all walks of life – from individuals with small insurance claims, to major national corporations.  We have had the pleasure of successfully representing many car dealers in claims against their insurance companies.