United States Eighth Circuit

In a dispute involving insurance liability coverage, district court judgment is affirmed where: 1) defendant did not waive its misrepresentation defense to plaintiff's claim for coverage and was not estopped from asserting the defense; 2) court did not err in admitting testimony about industry-wide practices, evidence regarding underwriting standards, and investigator's reports; 3) jury instruction on insurance policy misrepresentations complied with Missouri law, and the jury's finding of an intentional and material misrepresentation was supported by the evidence; 4) district court's imposition of time limits for the second phase of the trial did not constitute an abuse of discretion; and 5) district court had the discretion under the Declaratory Judgment Act to award defendant restitution of amounts paid to plaintiff.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/17/2009
• Published 04/17/2009

Judges

• MELLOY, Circuit Judge., Before WOLLMAN, BOWMAN, and MELLOY, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Jeffrey B. Hunt, argued, Angela N. Loehr, Kenneth B. Newman, and Andrew Dillon, on the brief, St. Louis, MO, for appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Robert W. Cockerham, argued, Corey L. Kraushaar, on the brief, St. Louis, MO, for appellee.