Partner Gregg Minkin successfully obtained pre-answer dismissal of a professional liability coverage action on behalf of Certain Underwriters at Lloyds of London. The action challenged Lloyds’ denial of coverage for a personal injury lawsuit commenced against the insured, a medi-spa, by a patient claiming injury due to professional negligence in providing laser treatment.
Mr. Minkin moved to dismiss the coverage action based on the existence of documentary evidence demonstrating that coverage was excluded as a result of the insured’s failure to obtain a signed consent form from the patient. He successfully defeated the insured’s arguments that the signed consent form exclusion was vague and ambiguous, did not apply because the patient was not asserting a lack of informed consent claim, and the evidence submitted to the Court did not constitute “documentary evidence” for purposes of a pre-answer dismissal motion. The Court agreed with our position and dismissed the insured’s complaint in its entirety.