Ga. Judge Hints KFC Franchisee's Insurance Case May Fail
Darren Dwyer, an attorney in Troutman Pepper's Insurance + Reinsurance Industry Group, was quoted in the March 3, 2022 Law360 article, " Ga. Judge Hints KFC Franchisee's Insurance Case May Fail."
Darren W. Dwyer of Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP, an attorney for Houston Casualty, said that's because the franchisee had already determined that its best bet at coverage was under the 2017 policy, for which it satisfied timely notification requirements.
"They knew if they sued under the '15-'16 policy period, then we'd just say it wasn't reported then, and there'd be no coverage for that reason," Dwyer said. "They sued under the correct policy year in the sense that that was their best shot for coverage, to convince you [Judge Ray] that the EEOC charges were not a claim, and you disagreed with that."
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But Dwyer said it didn't matter because the second EEOC charge and the lawsuit were related to Patton's first EEOC charge in July 2016, and the policy's relatedness provision treats claims that are related to have been made when the first of those claims are made.
"The point of this is so that when there are multiple claims only one policy period responds and that one policy period should pick up all subsequent related claims," Dwyer said. "And that policy period here is the '15-'16 policy period."
Dwyer said PMTD's defense costs in Patton's case are substantial, given that she has appealed the trial court's November 2020 dismissal of her claims to the Eleventh Circuit.
Ellis said Dwyer's argument that no coverage was available for defending Patton's case simply because PMTD failed to timely notify Houston Casualty of Patton's first EEOC charge did not make any sense. She said Houston Casualty provided coverage to PMTD from 2015 to 2019 and "would have been on this loss regardless."