We explore and analyze current issues and relevant topics to help accountants, attorneys, architects and engineers, insurance agents and real estate brokers avoid a professional liability case.
The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District affirmed summary judgment for an accounting firm, finding a non-client (third party) of the accounting firm could not show as a matter of law the accounting firm caused it any injury.
INTRODUCTIONThis past March, the Missouri Supreme Court had occasion to review whether an insurance policy would cover certain malpractice claims against an insured attorney who was found liable for breaching certain fiduciary duties owed to the client. See Taylor v. Bar Plan Mut. Ins. Co., 457 S.W.3d 340 (Mo. banc 2015). Though the Supreme Court’s application of basic insurance law principles was not particularly noteworthy—for example, the Supreme Court applied several long-established rules pertaining to the proper interpretation of an exclusionary clause—several observations by the Supreme Court bear mentioning, if only as a poignant reminder. This article synthesizes those observations, reminding both the professional liability insurer and the insured professional of the outer limits of professional liability coverage under Missouri law.