Wilkes v. St. Paul Fire & Marine, Insurance Co.

I respectfully dissent. It is undisputed that there has been a prior adjudication on the merits that Derrick Warren (“Insured”), the policyowner, has no coverage for the claims asserted against him by Melba Wilkes and Rodney Butler (“Plaintiffs”). Inasmuch as Plaintiffs’ rights to recover on the policy are wholly derivitive of Insured’s, they likewise must be barred from recovery under the policy. To hold otherwise is to hold that a third party beneficiary of an insurance policy can nonetheless collect even when it is undisputed that the policyholder could not collect if he paid the full…