Troutman Sanders team on Little Lady Foods Inc. v. Houston Casualty Co.
D&O and Professional Liability co-practice group leader and Orange County partner Terrence McInnis, Chicago partner David Cutter and Chicago associate Brian Cummings were mentioned in an October 31 Insurance Law & Litigation Week article recapping the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois’ ruling in Little Lady Foods Inc. v. Houston Casualty Co.
Little Lady, who had put a hold on 57,374 cases of its burrito product that was contaminated with bacteria within the listeria genus, had submitted a claim to its insurer, Houston Casualty, for the loss associated with the products under its accidental product contamination policy. However, subsequent testing specific for deadly listeria monocytogenes bacteria, which causes listeriosis, yielded negative results. Therefore, Houston denied coverage on the grounds that an accidental product contamination had not occurred. Little Lady then brought an action against Houston Casualty seeking a judgment declaring it was entitled to coverage under the policy, as well as damages for breach of contract and bad faith.
The parties cross-moved for summary judgment; the district court denied Little Lady’s motion and granted Houston Casualty’s motion. McInnis, Cutter and Cummings represented Houston Casualty during the legal proceedings.