Douglas v. Fidelity Nat' Ins.Co.
Annotate this CaseIn December 2010, Cost-U-Less Insurance assisted plaintiffs by telephone, through an InsZone Insurance Services employee, in obtaining a homeowner’s insurance policy with Fidelity. In 2011, a fire damaged plaintiffs’ home. They made a claim with Fidelity. Fidelity property claims representative Fowler sent a letter advising that Fidelity was investigating coverage for the fire incident, indicating that Fidelity had obtained information suggesting plaintiff did not live in the home and that the property had been used and operated as a residential care facility. After an investigation, Fidelity rescinded the homeowner’s policy on the grounds that plaintiffs’ insurance application contained material misrepresentations about various facts concerning plaintiffs’ and their home. The trial court entered judgment in favor of plaintiffs in the amount of $807,058.10, plus interest and costs of suit. Plaintiffs appealed the trial court’s decision to strike the jury’s $1.9 million punitive damages award. Fidelity appealed that the court committed jury instructional error. The appeals court remanded, holding that the trial court prejudicially erred in refusing to give certain jury instructions concerning whether the application formed an insurance contract.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.