Barrasso Usdin Appellate Victory

(Client: Allied World Insurance Company)

Louisiana Supreme Court Enforces Insurance Policy’s Designated Premises Provision

In February 2017, the Louisiana Supreme Court granted a writ application submitted by Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, L.L.C. and granted summary judgment in favor of Allied World Insurance Company (“Allied World”) in the matter of Doucet v. Darwin Select Insurance Co., No. 2016-C-1989, a matter pending in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana.  In an unusual per curiam decision rendered without the need for additional briefing or argument, the Supreme Court held that both the trial court and the Third Circuit Court of Appeal committed legal error in denying Allied World’s motion for summary judgment on coverage and refusing to enforce a Designated Premises provision limiting coverage to scheduled locations.  Applying the ordinary and prevailing meaning of the policy’s language, the Supreme Court held the policy did not “provide coverage for injuries that did not arise out of … the use of Premises listed on the Declarations page….”  This victory provides additional support for insurers seeking to enforce the plain terms of their insurance contracts as written even where the result is no coverage for a claim.

Judy Y. Barrasso and Michael A. Balascio handled the matter.

About Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, L.L.C.
Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, L.L.C., is a litigation law firm located in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Firm has experience litigating complex civil cases throughout the country, including all types of commercial disputes, class actions, environmental cases, product liability and toxic tort cases, intellectual property cases, insurance bad faith and coverage cases, and securities arbitrations, litigation, and regulatory matters.