Summary Judgment Granted in Professional Liability Insurance Coverage Dispute

Shareholder Michael Handler and Of Counsel Dan Syhre successfully moved for summary judgment in King County (WA) Superior Court, in favor of their professional liability insurer client. The Court held in early-2024 that the firm’s insurer client correctly applied its policy’s Antitrust Exclusion to preclude coverage for a series of national class actions. The class of claimants had alleged price-fixing anticompetitive conduct by property managers and other multi-family residential housing interests, triggering the Antitrust Exclusion. Nevertheless, the insured property management company claimed that a “Privacy Event” was actually or impliedly alleged in at least some of the class action complaints so the liability insurer should have funded its defense costs. The Superior Court Judge agreed with the insurer, and dismissed the insured’s coverage and bad faith lawsuit. There was no appeal to the Court of Appeals.