In August of 2004, Scott W. Bermack won a jury trial in Supreme Court, Bronx County, on behalf of a national insurance carrier that was sued by one of its corporate insureds as a result of the denial of insurance coverage for property damage and business interruption caused by a fire. The insured, a family-owned distributor of automotive supplies and paints, suffered a fire to its Bronx premises and submitted a proof of loss and supporting documentation to the insurance company. The insurance carrier denied coverage and voided the policy, claiming the insured violated the "false swearing" clause of the insurance policy by submitting a fraudulent proof of loss. The corporation then sued the insurance carrier for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, violations of the Insurance Law, negligence and bad faith, seeking substantial compensatory, consequential and punitive damages. At trial, we argued that the denial of coverage was proper under the terms of the insurance contract because the insured intentionally submitted altered invoices representing property that either wasn't in the premises at the time of the fire or wasn't damaged by the fire and other invoices that inflated the value of the improvements claimed to have been made to the leased store. Plaintiffs claimed the invoices were not fraudulent and were altered only to clarify certain issues for the carrier. The jury, in unanimously finding in favor of our client, determined that the plaintiff wilfully misrepresented material facts by falsely swearing to their alleged damages.

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