State Farm and Computype have reached a settlement agreement in a suit alleging an accountant suffered damages when the computer company failed to replace a hard disk drive while repairing the machine.
On Nov. 18, St. Clair County Associate Judge Randall Kelley filed an order noting that the parties had reached a settlement agreement and dismissing the suit with prejudice and without costs.
State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. filed the lawsuit on June 18, on behalf of J.W. Boyle Co. Ltd., against Computype I.T. Solutions.
According to the complaint, the insured’s principal, listed as Mr. Glueck, contacted Computype for assistance in January when his hard disk drive (HDD) server emitted noise. He alleges Computype removed the HDD but did not replace it.
Then on April 1, 2013, Glueck was allegedly unable to access data on the server and once again contacted the defendant. He claims Computype then re-installed the hard drive.
State Farm alleges Computype acted negligently when it failed to restore Glueck’s server to an optimal functioning level, provide backup of the system and replace the hard disk drive.
Computype answered the complaint on Aug. 10 through attorney Kevin Hoerner of Becker Hoerner Thompson & Ysursa in Belleville, arguing the case was filed beyond the applicable statute of limitations.
The defendant also argues that State Farm or its insured “was entirely responsible” for the alleged property damage, which occurred as a direct result of the plaintiff’s failure to exercise ordinary care and failure to maintain and utilize adequate back-up systems to preserve data.
Computype filed a counterclaim for declaratory judgment against State Farm. It seeks a declaration that coverage exists for State Farm’s claim and that State Farm has a duty to defend Computype in the suit.
On Sept. 1, State Farm denied all allegations raised in the affirmative defenses.
State Farm sought reimbursement of $50,356, plus attorneys’ fees and costs.
The plaintiff is represented by Chiles & Associates in Wheaton.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 15-L-352