Jeff Siderius obtained a favorable ruling recently from the Second District Illinois appellate court on behalf of a general contractor and its insurance carrier in a declaratory judgment action filed by West Bend Insurance Company.   The general contractor, DJW-Ridgeway Building Consultants, was sued by an employee of one of its subcontractors who slipped in a rut and fell on the construction site.  DJW-Ridgeway tendered its defense to West Bend, the insurance carrier for its masonry subcontractor, Jason the Mason, seeking a defense as an additional insured.  West Bend denied coverage and filed a declaratory judgment action in the Circuit Court of Lake County.  West Bend argued there was no coverage for DJW-Ridgeway as an additional insured because there was no “written contract or written agreement” between Jason the Mason and DJW-Ridgeway.  West Bend also argued that even if DJW qualified as an additional insured, it had no duty to defend since its policy stated it was excess unless a written contract “specifically requires” that it be primary and no such requirement was contained in the contract.  The Second District Illinois appellate court upheld the trial court’s award of summary judgment in favor of DJW on both issues, finding that a proposal and a separate subcontract agreement constituted a single written contract, and that the insurance requirements of the contract required Jason the Mason to provide primary coverage for DJW in spite of the fact it did not contain the word “primary.”  Thus, the court held West Bend owed DJW a duty to defend as an additional insured on a primary basis.

West Bend Mutual Insurance Co. v. DJW-Ridgeway Building Consultants, Inc., 2015 IL App (2d) 140441.