State ex rel. Owners Insurance v. McGraw

I agree with the majority that, on the first three claims made by Owners Insurance, the writ of prohibition should be denied. There just wasn’t enough in the record to conclude that the circuit court has exceeded its legitimate authority.

Still, I dissent because I would have granted a writ of prohibition on the fourth error, which pertains to the theory that Morían Enterprises can collect damages for attorney fees and expenses (“defense costs”) paid by its insurer, Westfield Insurance. I believe that the learned trial judge was absolutely right that those defense costs were a collateral…