Coats, Rose, Yale, Ryman & Lee, P.C. v. Navigators Specialty Insurance

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

SIDNEY A. FITZWATER, Chief Judge.

The question presented is whether there is a conflict of interest between an insurance company and its insured that supersedes the insurance company’s contractual right to select counsel to defend the insured in a state-court legal malpractice suit. Concluding that there is no conflict, the court upholds the insurance company’s contractual right to select the insured’s counsel.

I

This is a diversity action brought by plaintiff Coats, Rose, Yale, Ryman & Lee, P.C. (“Coats”), a law firm insured under a professional liability insurance…