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Nancy Miller and Ron Nemirow recently obtained summary judgment for an insurance carrier who was being sued in a bad faith case with unusual facts. The carrier’s insured was a lawyer who had been sued for legal malpractice; the carrier had defended and, at the insured’s urging, rejected the plaintiff’s policy limits settlement demand.

During the pendency of the legal malpractice case, the insured filed for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy trustee and the legal malpractice lawyer entered into a stipulated judgment in excess of policy limits. The bankruptcy trustee then filed suit against the carrier asserting bad faith. The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado granted the carrier summary judgment on a motion filed by Nemirow Perez, holding that the claim was not the property of the bankruptcy estate because it had not accrued when the bankruptcy petition was filed.

The case involved significant questions and issues of legal malpractice law, bankruptcy law, and the law governing the duties of insurers in the State of Colorado. With a small, streamlined staff, but very experienced attorneys, Nemirow Perez was able to provide our client a strong outcome.