EAST ST. LOUIS — An insurance carrier alleges its insured, Anderson Hospital, waited five years to notify it about a lawsuit filed by a mother alleging her baby suffered complications from a herpes infection.
Allied World Surplus Lines Insurance Company filed a complaint Sept. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Southwestern Illinois Health Facilities Inc., doing business as Anderson Hospital, and Phylica Lang, alleging breach of notice and reporting requirements and other claims.
According to Allied's complaint, it issued an "Excess" insurance policy to Anderson Hospital for a policy period of March 1, 2015, to March 1, 2016. The plaintiff alleges Anderson Hospital notified it on Oct. 22, 2015, about a "medical incident" that involved Lang and the delivery of her baby boy Kamden in which Kamden developed a herpes infection and other complications. Allied alleges Anderson Hospital failed to provide it with "prompt notice" of the lawsuit filed by Lang on Aug. 12, 2016, and did not report the lawsuit until September 14, 2021. The insurer was notified almost six years after the incident and more than five years after Lang filed the suit.
Allied claims that due to Anderson Hospital's failure to abide by the reporting requirements under the policy, it owes no coverage matter under the policy and disputes that coverage exists under the policy.
Allied seeks more than $75,000, trial by jury and all other just relief. They are represented by David F. Cutter and Jonathan Walton of BatesCarey LLP in Chicago.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:21-CV-01156-SMY