NOT IN THIS FIRST-PARTY INSURANCE CASE OF NO COVERAGE FOR COVID-19 CLAIMS.
Under Florida law, "an insurer's duty to defend its insured against legal action depends solely on the facts alleged in the pleadings and on the legal claims alleged against the insurer [sic; should be "alleged against the insured"]." Mauricio Martinez, DMD, P.A. v. Allied Ins. Co. of Am., ___ F. Supp. 3d ___, No. 2:20-cv-00401-FtM-66NPM, 2020 WL 5240281, at *1 n.2 (M.D. Fla. Sept. 2, 2020).
This was actually a first-party insurance case. However, apparently the policyholder's coverage argument occasioned a footnote in which the Court reflected both on the propriety of defending litigation, and on the contractual duty to defend where such a duty exists.
As the Court noted in the body of its opinion, "[t]he scope of insurance coverage is defined by the language and terms of the insurance policy[.]" Mauricio Martinez, DMD, P.A., 2020 WL 5240281, at *2.
Due to the carrier's virus exclusion in the first-party policy at issue in this case, there was no coverage for the COVID-19 claims of the policyholder.
The holdings in third-party or liability insurance cases and the judicial interpretation of insurance statutes concerning a liability insurer's duty to defend throughout the United States, are extensively discussed in 1 DENNIS J. WALL, LITIGATION AND PREVENTION OF INSURER BAD FAITH §§ 3:51 - 3:64 (Thomson Reuters West 3d edition & 2020 Supps.). Coverage and Policy Defenses to First-Party Insurance Coverage are addressed in id., Volume 2, throughout Chapter 11 and particularly in § 11:1.
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