Dec. 01--An appellate court has ruled that an insurance company owes a Clay County hog producer $2.5 million after the insurer failed to back the producer during a six-year lawsuit.
Facing the lengthy lawsuit from nearby residents, the producer, Bible Pork, received a letter in January 2006 from Country Mutual Insurance Company that it would not back the pork producer in court.
In the trial, 21 residents claimed that a new Bible Pork facility would lower property values and expose them to unpleasant odors. They wanted the new facility to be declared a nuisance, which could have led to the site's demise, said Chris Koester, an attorney for Bible Pork.
But a Clay County jury sided with Bible Pork. Then in 2011, an appellate court upheld that ruling and the case against the hog site completed in 2006 was dismissed.
Though the disgruntled residents had been quelled, Bible Pork faced a second lawsuit with its insurance company.
Country Mutual claimed that the insurance policies that the pork producer paid for did not cover court costs associated with nuisance proceedings.
The insurance polices did not explicitly state coverage for a nuisance claim, but the circuit court sided with Bible Pork.
It said that the wording of Country Mutual's policies should be interpreted to cover nuisance cases.
The Fifth District Appellate Count recently upheld the circuit court decision in a 2-1.
Koester said Monday that he expects Country Mutual to file an appeal to the Supreme Court, but he noted that the highest court only considers 7 percent of those appeals.
Chris Stroisch, media relations supervisor for Country Mutual, declined to comment on the appellate court ruling, saying that the company doesn't comment on a pending litigation.
Koester sees the recent ruling as a big win.
"It is an important victory to businesses and individuals who expect their insurance company to stand behind them at a time when they are most vulnerable," he said in a press release.
"Insurance companies should not be allowed to collect premiums for 20 years and then abandon their insureds when litigation arises. Insurance policies are contracts and the insurance companies who draft them should be required to comply with their own contracts."
Stan Polanski can be reached at stan.polanski@effinghamdailynews.com or 217-347-7151 ext. 131.
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