Insurance Company Refuses to Protect Client from Lawsuit
Joe Norwood represented an Oklahoma private investigator who was being sued by the subject of the investigator’s surveillance. The investigator was hired to surveille the opposing party in a child custody litigation. One of the means of surveillance the investigator used was a GPS unit on the subject’s vehicle. After discovering the GPS unit, the subject sued the investigator.
The investigator’s commercial liability insurance company denied coverage for the lawsuit, forcing the investigator to pay for his own legal fees and any potential settlement or jury verdict. Norwood represented the investigator and was able to get that lawsuit dismissed. He then filed a bad-faith lawsuit against the investigator’s commercial liability insurance company for denying coverage for the lawsuit.
Norwood prevailed in that bad-faith insurance case and his client’s former insurance company paid the investigator a six-figure settlement.