{"id":17,"date":"2014-08-20T16:02:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-20T16:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/professional-liability\/2014\/08\/20\/no-coverage-for-actual-damages-under-39a\/"},"modified":"2023-11-08T18:47:30","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T18:47:30","slug":"no-coverage-for-actual-damages-under-39a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/law-firm-defense\/2014\/08\/20\/no-coverage-for-actual-damages-under-39a\/","title":{"rendered":"No Coverage for Actual Damages Under 39A"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"img-1412347612494\" class=\"alignRight\" style=\"height: 150px; width: 309px; float: right;\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sh_images\/images\/16314249_m1-resized-600.jpg\" alt=\"16314249 m resized 600\" width=\"309\" height=\"150\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In a recent case in federal court in Boston, Judge Stearns ruled that compensatory damages awarded under the Massachusetts consumer protection statute, G.L. c. 93A (\u201cChapter 93A\u201d), against an attorney were excluded under the malpractice policy of insurance because they\u00a0 stemmed from knowing and willful conduct.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In American Guarantee &amp; Liability Insurance Co. v. Lamond, Civ. No 13-cv-13168 (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><a title=\"USDC Mass. July 29, 2014\" href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sh_files\/News\/PL%20Alert.pdf\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\">USDC Mass. July 29, 2014<\/span><\/a><\/span>), a jury awarded damages against the attorney, Lamond, for professional negligence and (as an advisory verdict) for his deceptive acts and practices under Chapter 93A.\u00a0 The attorney, representing a purchaser of land, had certified the property was free of encumbrances while knowing that it was the site of an Indian burial ground and subject to preservation restrictions.\u00a0 When the purchaser was unable to build on the land, the purchaser defaulted on his mortgage.\u00a0 The mortgagor foreclosed and filed suit against the purchaser and the lawyer.\u00a0 The purchaser\/client in turn sued the lawyer for negligence and violation of Chapter 93A.<\/p>\n<p>The jury found against the lawyer and awarded $20,000 in damages for negligence, and $397,000 in \u201cactual\u201d damages under Chapter 93A which the Court adopted and doubled as per the statute and to which the Court added $111,190.62 in attorneys\u2019 fees.<\/p>\n<p>The insurer argued on summary judgment that the 93A damages were excluded under the policy because liability on the Chapter 93A was premised on the attorney\u2019s intentional conduct.\u00a0 The attorney conceded that the<span class=\"apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><em>doubled<\/em><span class=\"apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>damages were excluded but argued that the single damages were covered because they were neither a penalty nor a punitive award but rather represented \u201cactual damages.\u201d\u00a0 The Court disagreed, holding that, because the 93A award was based on a finding of knowing or willful conduct, they were excluded under the policy provision that excluded coverage for any claim \u201cbased on or arising out of, in whole or part: . . . any intentional, criminal, fraudulent, malicious or dishonest act or omission . . . .\u201d\u00a0 The Court also confirmed that the award of attorneys\u2019 fees under Chapter 93A was \u201cpunitive\u201d in nature and excluded under another provision of the policy.<\/p>\n<p>This case is a good reminder that claims against attorneys under 93A are not covered by insurance \u2013 and highlights that even compensatory damages suffered by the client are not covered when there is an intentional conduct exclusion in the policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a recent case in federal court in Boston, Judge Stearns ruled that compensatory damages awarded under the Massachusetts consumer protection statute, G.L. c. 93A (\u201cChapter 93A\u201d), against an attorney were excluded under the malpractice policy of insurance because they\u00a0 stemmed from knowing and willful conduct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":67,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7,21],"class_list":["post-17","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ethics","tag-federal-court"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - 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