BROADCASTS.com

b'

Private Limitations of Action Provision of Policy Defeats Late Law Suit\\n\\nKnox Mediterranean Foods, Inc. (Knox) appealed the trial court\'s grant \\nof Appellee Amtrust Financial Services (Amtrust)\'s motion for \\ntraditional summary judgment on Amtrust\'s affirmative defense of \\nlimitations. In one issue, Knox contends that summary judgment was \\nimproper because there was a genuine issue of material fact as to when \\nits claim accrued.\\n\\n\\nDISCUSSION\\n\\nWhile Knox\'s brief wholly fails to cite the record, the record comprises\\n 425 pages, roughly 300 of which is the insurance policy. The sole issue\\n in this appeal required the Court of Appeals to consider whether \\nAmtrust\'s June 13 letter constituted a denial of Knox\'s claim. That \\nletter is a little over a page long and easily located in the record.\\n\\nLIMITATIONS\\n\\nThe time in which a plaintiff must file suit is defined, as the name \\nsuggests, by statute. Parties may contract for a shorter limitations \\nperiod, provided that the contractual limitations period is not shorter \\nthan two years.\\n\\nA cause of action accrues, and the limitations period begins to run when\\n facts come into existence that authorize a party to seek a judicial \\nremedy. In first-party insurance actions, the insured\'s cause of action \\naccrues when the insurer denies a claim.\\n\\nThere is no dispute that the insurance policy at issue sets a \\nlimitations period of two years and one day from the date of accrual. \\n\\nWhen an insurer denies a claim, its mere willingness to reconsider that \\ndenial does not restart the limitations period.\\n\\nTherefore, Amtrust\'s June 13 letter to Knox unequivocally communicated a\\n decision to deny coverage.\\n\\nAmtrust established as a matter of law that Knox\'s claim accrued-and the\\n contractual limitations period began to run-on June 13, 2017. Because \\nKnox filed this lawsuit on May 20, 2020, nearly three years after its \\nclaim accrued, its claim was time-barred.\\n\\nZALMA OPINION\\n\\nThe covenant of good faith and fair dealing applies to the insurer and \\nthe insured equally. When an insured fails or refuses to prove its loss \\nit leaves the insurer no choice but to deny the claim rather than \\ncontinue to beg the insured to fulfill its promises. Since Knox did \\nnothing for almost three years after it was told Amtrust would pay no \\nmore its suit was time barred.\\n\\n(c) 2023 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.