In a pivotal development in the case involving Meridian Security Insurance Co. and an Anne Arundel County couple, a Maryland federal judge has reached a verdict. The judge concluded that Meridian had a duty to indemnify the couple in an underlying trespass and nuisance lawsuit involving a neighbour. In addition to this, it was established that the insurer was responsible for prejudgment interest of $35,000, calculated from the date of each attorney invoice, rather than from the date of the original denial of the claim.
The claimants, Louis P. Batstone and Griffith R.D. Batstone, had submitted a motion for summary judgment on liquidated damages. U.S. District Judge Julie R. Rubin for the District of Maryland responded with a February 14 opinion, which partially granted and partially dismissed their request. The opinion came after the judge’s earlier decision to grant their motion for partial summary judgment relating to their breach-of-contract claim. This ruling had imposed upon Meridian the duty to defend the Batstones in an underlying lawsuit filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.
Meridian, as part of its arguments, contended that the Batstones had miscalculated the prejudgment interest by calculating them from the date of the defendants’ original denial. The judge, however, agreed with the Batstones’ method of computation. The decision to calculate the prejudgment interest from the payment due date rather than from the original denial of claim further anchors the verdict in the Batstones’ favour.
For more details, please refer to the original article on Law.com.