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Civil Litigation -
Asking Your Insurance Carrier to Help You

Northern California Civil Litigation Information

If you have been sued, ideally you have some form of insurance which fully covers your potential liability in the lawsuit. Insurance coverage for your lawsuit depends on the nature of the allegations against you and the terms of your policy. Homeowners insurance generally covers you with respect to personal matters, i.e., matters which are unrelated to your business or employment. Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance generally covers business related liabilities. All insurance policies contain a number of exclusions which specify certain types of liability which are not covered by the policy. Check your liability insurance policies to see what is potentially available to cover you for the lawsuit. Inform your attorney of your insurance policies and ask your attorney to request coverage from your insurance carriers.

If you have not yet retained an attorney, contact your insurance company, agent or broker by telephone to inform them of the lawsuit, and then follow up with a letter "tendering" the lawsuit to the carrier. "Tender" in this context means: (1) advising your carrier in a letter that you have been sued, (2) enclosing a copy of the summons and complaint and any other court documents, (3) advising the carrier of the date you were served with the summons and complaint, and (4) asking your carrier to defend you in the lawsuit. Here is a sample "tender" letter:

Re:	Smith v. Jones; Any County Superior Court Case No. ABC123
Insured:	[insert the named insured under the policy]
Policy No:	[insert the policy number or numbers]

Dear Insurance Company:

On [insert date] I was served with a summons and complaint (copies enclosed) in the above-referenced action. Please confirm as soon as possible that I will be provided a defense in the lawsuit under the above referenced policy, and any other policies that may apply for this matter. Here is my contact information:

[insert your name, address, and telephone numbers]

Thank you very much. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Joe Defendant

If you are writing to your agent or broker, instruct them to tender the lawsuit to any insurance carriers that may have coverage for it.

If you've already hired an attorney, your attorney should review your insurance coverages and assist you with tendering the lawsuit. Your attorney may thus have a dual role at this first stage: initiating your defense in the lawsuit, and trying to obtain insurance coverage for you.

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