DEFENDING AN INSURED AT NO COST Case In Point: SOMETIMES THERE IS MORE THAN JUST WINNING We were retained by one of our insurance carrier clients to represent a property owner insured. The plaintiff's complaint alleged a slip and fall on snow and ice on the public sidewalk in the front of the insured's property. Upon receiving the assignment we contacted the insured who informed us that the property was commercial in nature and subject to a lease. At our request we were provided with a copy of the lease for the premises. Our review of the document revealed provisions requiring the tenant to perform snow and ice removal on the public sidewalk and to maintain public liability insurance. We then filed a third-party complaint against the tenants. During discovery we demanded any and all insurance policies from the tenant. It appeared that the tenant was insured under a policy with a different carrier. The tenant's policy also named our client as an "additional insured". We then notified the tenant's carrier, requesting indemnification and an immediate assumption of defenses. We received no response from the tenant's carrier or the attorney assigned to represent the tenant on the third-party complaint. We proceeded to defend on behalf of our client until discovery was complete. At that time we filed a motion for partial Summary Judgement on the basis that if the plaintiff's injuries were occasioned by the negligence of the tenant in failing to properly remove snow and ice from the public sidewalk, then culpability would lie with the tenant and not the landlord. But we did not rest there. We simultaneously moved the court to agreed, awarding us counsel fees and costs from a reasonable time after our letter request to the carrier to assume the defenses of our client. Therefore, we not only successfully defended our client, the property owner, but did so with only a minimal expense to our carrier.