THE MAYERSON FIRM PLLC

Companies purchase fidelity-insurance policies to protect against loss from employee dishonesty. Fidelity coverage generally falls into two categories: financial fidelity, for banks and other financial institutions, and commercial fidelity, or commercial crime coverage, for other businesses. Financial-fidelity forms are substantially standardized; commercial-fidelity wordings are less uniform, even when they originate with the Surety Association of America or the Insurance Se

The question whether an insurance company that defends its policyholder may recoup its defense-cost payments continues to produce divergent results. Most recently, the Illinois and Montana Supreme Courts reached opposite conclusions in opinions issued a few weeks apart. See General Agents Insurance Co. of America, Inc. v. Midwest Sporting Goods Co., 215 Ill. 2d 146, 828 N.E.2d 1092 (2005); Travelers Casualty & Surety Co. v. Ribi Immunochem Research, Inc., 2005 MT 50, 326 Mont