State National Insurance Company v. Michael Murphy
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
I. BACKGROUND
SNIC filed this action in federal court, seeking rescission of two insurance policies it issued to Defendants: a property-damage policy and a general-liability policy. (See Compl., Doc. 1 ¶¶ 12, 26–39; Commercial Property Policy, Doc. 12-3; Commercial General Liability Policy, Doc. 12-4.) A third-party slipped and fell on Defendants’ premises and filed a personal-injury lawsuit against Defendants. (Id. ¶¶ 16, 19.) SNIC agreed to defend Defendants, subject to a reservation of rights. (Id. ¶ 21.) SNIC now seeks to rescind the two insurance policies on the grounds that Defendants obtained the policies by making material misrepresentations in their applications. (Id. ¶¶ 33–45.)
SNIC invoked this court’s diversity jurisdiction. In its initial complaint, SNIC contended that diversity’s amount-in-controversy requirement was satisfied based on the ______________________________________________________________________________