Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog

It is common knowledge in the insurance industry that an insurer’s duty to defend is broad.  Recently, a U.S. District Court reminded us just how broad that duty is when it held that a complaint with only two scarce factual allegations triggered an insurer’s duty to defend.

A federal judge in Indiana recently found that an insurer is not entitled to control the defense of its insured because a conflict of interest exists where the insurer is in litigation with the insured over an alleged policy breach arising out of the manner in which underlying litigation would be defended. Valley Forge Insurance Co. v. Hartford Iron & Metal Inc., et al., No. 1:14-cv-00006-RLM-SLC, N.D. Ind. (Dec. 7, 2015).