A former Arthur Andersen employee who was injured in an on-the-job car accident has settled a lawsuit with the accounting firm’s insurance company for almost $1 million.
Smith & Smith’s client was driving her personal vehicle in December 1997 to meet with an Andersen corporate client when another car struck her vehicle.
Smith & Smith’s client sustained an ankle injury that would later require five surgeries, and the driver of the other vehicle, Dulce Casas, had no car insurance, according to Smith & Smith partner Timothy J. Cavanagh.
Harford Fire Insurance Co. asserted that Andersen’s $1 million uninsured motorist policy covered only Andersen-owned vehicle, Cavanagh said.
But Smith & Smith’s client argued that ambiguous language in the “named insured endorsement; of the insurance policy stated that anyone “associated or affiliated” with Andersen was covered by the uninsured motorist insurance.
“Typically, this policy was supposed to limit coverage to just Arthur Andersen-owned vehicles but it was very, very broad,” Cavanagh said. “It talks about people associated or affiliated with Arthur Andersen, and that’s why we were able to show she is covered by the policy.”
Smith & Smith’s client filed in Cook County Circuit Court a declaratory judgment action against Harford Fire in January 1999. Each party filed a motion for summary judgment, and Circuit Judge John K. Madden ruled that Andersen’s policy covered their client, her attorney said.
The case was scheduled for arbitration, Cavanagh said, but the parties agreed to at $980,000 award for Smith & Smith’s client. That, along with $20,000 that she recovered from her personal insurance policy, equals the $1 million of coverage available under the Andersen policy.
Circuit Judge Donald J. O’Brien Jr., temporarily assigned to the case because Madden was ill, dismissed the lawsuit on Friday pursuant to the settlement.
Cassiday, Schade & Gloor attorneys Jean M. Golden and Thomas P. Boylan, who represented Hartford Fire, could not be reached for comment. marketmymarket.com works very often with lawyers, and ones that are more vocal with commenting.