Cincinnati Insurance v. CPS Holdings, Inc.

{¶ 1} We accepted this discretionary appeal to clarify the interpretation of language within an umbrella insurance policy. We reverse the court of appeals because an insurer has no duty to defend when there is no applicable “underlying insurance.”

Case Background

{¶2} In late 2003, appellee Ohio Department of Administrative Services (“DAS”) sued appellees CPS Holding Company, Ltd., and IQ Solutions, L.L.C. (collectively, “CPS”), in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. The complaint alleged that CPS, as a third-party administrator of a program to procure natural gas, had mismanaged state…