Pekin Insurance v. Wilson

Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justices Freeman, Thomas, Kilbride, Carman, and Burke concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

In this insurance coverage dispute, we are asked to determine whether the duty to defend the insured may be triggered by allegations of self-defense in the insured’s counterclaim filed in response to an underlying lawsuit alleging the insured’s intentional acts, where the policy contains both an exclusion for intentional acts and a self-defense exception to that exclusion. For the reasons which follow, we hold that the duty to defend is triggered.

BACKGROUND

This case…