Illinois Appellate Lawyer Blog

This case is another dispute between an insured and his homeowner’s insurer. After his house burned down, Rodney Barth filed a claim with State Farm. State Farm denied the claim because, it argued, Rodney made material misrepresentations during State Farm’s investigation of the fire. A jury found in favor of State Farm, and Rodney appealed.

Rodney argued that the trial court should have instructed the jury that State Farm was required to prove that it reasonably relied to its prejudice on Rodney’s misrepresentation. Instead, the trial court instructed the jury only that Rodney’s misrepresentation had to be “material.”

The Illinois Supreme Court stated the rule for review of jury instruction challenges: “Although jury instructions are generally reviewed for an abuse of discretion, our standard of review is de novo when the question is whether the applicable law was accurately conveyed.”

As representative of Stanley Collins’s estate, Lisa Collins sued St. Paul Mercury Insurance for underinsured motorist coverage of the auto accident that killed Stanley. Lisa appealed after the trial court ruled that St. Paul did not owe insurance coverage and awarded the company summary judgment.

Among other things, Lisa complained that her affidavit supporting her opposition to summary judgment should not have been stricken. The First District Illinois Appellate Court identified the proper standard of review as de novo. “When a trial court rules on a motion to strike an affidavit in conjunction with a motion for summary judgment, the appellate court reviews that ruling de novo.”

In this case, the appellate court ruled it was proper to strike the affidavit because it “failed to comply with the requirements of [Illinois Supreme Court Rule 191] in that it contained unsupported assertions, opinions, and conclusions regarding plaintiff’s ‘expectations’ about the St. Paul policy’s coverage.” Read the whole case, Collins v. St. Paul Mercury Insurance Co., No. 1-06-36-1 (3/25/08), by clicking here.

After his ex-wife died, Edward Trevino got into a dispute with his children over the disposition of a $100,000 life insurance benefit. Edward was the beneficiary on the policy. But his children pointed to a marital settlement agreement that stated they were to be beneficiaries of any “death benefits.”

The children’s guardian asked for a constructive trust over the life insurance benefit. After the trial court imposed a constructive trust, Edward appealed that order.

The first issue was the standard of review. The Second District Illinois Appellate Court distinguished between review of imposition of a constructive trust and of a marital settlement agreement. “At the outset, we note that, even though the order Edward challenges is one imposing the equitable remedy of a constructive trust … our review is de novo. Typically, the imposition of a constructive trust is a matter for the discretion of the trial court … Here, however, the issue is not whether the trial court abused its discretion in imposing a constructive trust, but whether the marital settlement agreement provided a legal basis for the trial court’s order. Edward has asked us to review only the trial court’s interpretation of the agreement. Our review of a court’s interpretation of a marital settlement agreement is de novo.”