{"id":900213,"date":"2022-08-04T14:22:03","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T20:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=900213"},"modified":"2022-08-04T14:31:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T20:31:08","slug":"attorneys-fees-doesnt-constitute-damages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/attorneys-fees-doesnt-constitute-damages\/","title":{"rendered":"Sixth Circuit Holds Attorneys\u2019 Fee Award Does Not Constitute Damages Under Professional Liability Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Kent Crocker | <a href=\"https:\/\/propertycasualtyfocus.com\/sixth-circuit-holds-attorneys-fee-award-does-not-constitute-damages-under-professional-liability-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">PropertyCasualtyFocus<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an order granting summary judgment in favor of the insurer in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/cases.justia.com\/federal\/appellate-courts\/ca6\/21-3479\/21-3479-2022-07-01.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><em>Wesco Insurance Co. v. Roderick Linton Belfance LLP<\/em><\/a>, holding that the award of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/attorneys-fees-construction-disputes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">attorneys\u2019 fees<\/a> was a \u201csanction\u201d and thus was not covered damages under the Wesco professional liability policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This matter concerned an award of attorneys\u2019 fees stemming from claims that were brought against schools under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The IDEA provides federal funds to states to ensure that students with disabilities receive an appropriate education tailored to their needs. When parents believe that a school has failed to live up to the IDEA\u2019s expectations, they can raise their concerns via an administrative process. If that process fails, the IDEA provides parents a cause of action against schools to obtain judicial relief. However, if the suit against the school is frivolous or was filed for improper purposes, the IDEA has a fee-shifting provision that permits the school to recover its attorneys\u2019 fees from the filing attorney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here, three attorneys jointly pursued four IDEA claims against four school districts in Ohio, alleging a failure to provide their student clients with an appropriate education. After significant administrative litigation, a hearing officer found for the school district in each proceeding. Two of the three attorneys then pursued one of the claims in court against the Akron School District. The trial court ruled in favor of the Akron School District, and the Sixth Circuit affirmed. The school districts then sued the firm that employed the attorneys, alleging that the claims were frivolous, and sought an award of attorneys\u2019 fees pursuant to the IDEA\u2019s fee-shifting provisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wesco issued a professional liability policy to the law firm that employed the attorneys that was in effect during the IDEA proceedings. Wesco refused to defend and indemnify the attorneys and then sought a declaratory judgment that the policy did not apply. Wesco contended that the policy defined \u201cdamages\u201d to exclude an award of \u201csanctions\u201d under \u201cfederal\u201d law. The district court granted summary judgment for Wesco, agreeing that the attorneys\u2019 fee award for the school districts under the IDEA was a \u201csanction\u201d and thus was not \u201cdamages\u201d under the policy. Two of the three attorneys then appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Sixth Circuit reviewed the policy\u2019s definition of \u201cdamages,\u201d which stated that \u201cdamages\u201d did not include, among other things, \u201ccivil or criminal fines, sanctions, penalties or forfeitures, whether pursuant to federal, state or local law, statute, regulation or court rule and injuries that are a consequence of any of the foregoing.\u201d Ultimately, the Sixth Circuit held that because the school districts had shown the attorneys violated their duties not to file complaints that were \u201cfrivolous\u201d or for an \u201cimproper purpose,\u201d it was clear that the awarded attorneys\u2019 fees constituted a \u201csanction\u201d under the ordinary meaning of the term. Accordingly, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court\u2019s ruling that an award of attorneys\u2019 fees under the IDEA constituted a sanction that was not covered under the Wesco professional liability policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kent Crocker | PropertyCasualtyFocus The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an order granting summary judgment in favor of the insurer in&nbsp;Wesco Insurance Co. v. Roderick Linton Belfance LLP, holding that the award of attorneys\u2019 fees was a \u201csanction\u201d and thus was not covered damages under the Wesco professional liability policy. This matter concerned an&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/attorneys-fees-doesnt-constitute-damages\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Sixth Circuit Holds Attorneys\u2019 Fee Award Does Not Constitute Damages Under Professional Liability Policy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10791,30],"tags":[9895,10578,142,5499],"class_list":["post-900213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commercial-general-liability-policy","category-general-liability-policy","tag-advise-consult","tag-advise-consultd","tag-attorneys-fees","tag-professional-liability-policies","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sixth Circuit Holds Attorneys\u2019 Fee Award Does Not Constitute Damages Under Professional Liability Policy - Advise &amp; 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