The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, reversing adistrict court's decision, has ruled that an insured's 21-monthdelay in notifying his insurer about a “minor” accident was notreasonable and, as a result, the insurer had no duty to defend himin the lawsuit that ultimately was filed against him.
The case
On September 6, 2013, Carl Brumit, the owner of Brumit Services,Inc., a small business that performed residential concreteconstruction work, was in the parking lot of a Phillips 66 gasstation in Columbia, Illinois, with the truck he used for hisbusiness. When he backed out of his parking space, he unwittinglystruck 68-year-old Delores Menard with the truck's tailgate.
Menard fell and suffered scrape wounds on her elbow and knee.She was treated by an EMT and declined a trip to the hospital,instead choosing to drive herself home.
For his part, Brumit was unaware that he had hit Menard until abystander alerted him as he was driving away. He then came back tothe scene, called for an ambulance, and provided the police officerat the scene with a statement. He observed that Menard was sittingdown and “may have had a scratch on her knee.”
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