Century Surety Co. v. Jim Hipner LLC

Century appeals the district court's final judgment determining that Hipner does have coverage under an umbrella policy entered between the parties. Because Wyoming law had not definitively addressed whether an insurer must be prejudiced before being entitled to deny coverage when the insured has failed to give notice “as soon as practicable,” the court certified the question to the Supreme Court of Wyoming. On certification, the Supreme Court of Wyoming adopted the notice-prejudice rule, holding that “prejudice to the insurer [is required] before coverage may be denied based upon a violation of a notice provision contained in the policy.” Additionally, that court held that “an insurance clause is [not] enforceable where it excludes coverage unless the insured notifies the insurer ‘as soon as practicable . . . whether [the insurer] [is] prejudiced or not.’” In this case, although Hipner did not provide timely notice to Century, the court concluded that Century failed to show how the four-month delay in receiving notice actually prevented it from taking any meaningful investigatory steps that it would have done had there been no delay. Because Century suffered no prejudice from the delay in notice, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Century Surety Co. v. Jim Hipner LLC" on Justia Law