U.S. Bank Nat'l Assoc. v. Federal Insurance Co., et al., No. 10-3472 (8th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff, as trustee for a creditors' trust, held a $56 million stipulated judgment against Paul Yarrick, a former officer of Interstate Bakeries. Interstate emerged from a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. In the bankruptcy proceedings, the Trust obtained the right to bring the action that later resulted in the judgment against Yarrick. The Trust received this right in exchange for certain concessions, including an agreement to execute only against potentially liable insurers. After the Trust obtained the judgment against Yarrick, the Trust brought the present action against defendants in an attempt to collect against several director and officer policies that named Yarrick as an insured. The court held that, because the Assignment Agreement that transferred to the Trust the limited right to sue Yarrick for insurance proceeds "absolved" Yarrick from "payment," the $56 million judgment was not a "Loss" as required by the plain language of the policy. The court also rejected the abandoned-insurance argument and held that Missouri law did not allow estoppel to extend coverage over otherwise uncovered claims. Accordingly, the judgment of the district court finding no coverage and granting summary judgment in favor of the insurers was affirmed.
Court Description: Civil case - Insurance. Under the provisions of the policy and under the agreements in Interstate Baking's bankruptcy, the judgment in question was not a loss for purposes of the policy; under Missouri law, the Trust's abandoned-insured, estoppel theory could not be used to expand coverage.
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