Court Opinion

ID: 9728350
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:05:53.635585+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:47.928189
License: Public Domain

SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION ON DENIAL OF REHEARING JUSTICE HARRISON delivered the opinion of the court:  In a petition for rehearing filed in this case, American contends that we erred in concluding that Sears’ cause of action against American was not barred by the statute of limitations. The insurance policy issued by American provided, however, that “no action shall lie against the company unless, as a condition precedent thereto *** the amount of the insured’s obligation to pay shall have been finally determined either by judgment against the insured after actual trial or by written agreement of the insured, the claimant and the company.” Under these circumstances, where the policy clearly operated to prohibit the insured from bringing suit prior to the time that its financial obligations to a third party could be calculated, Sears’ cause of action against American did not accrue on the date that American refused to defend the Ervin suit (see Olipra v. Zambelli (1971), 1 Ill. App. 3d 607, 611, 274 N.E.2d 877); rather, it accrued no earlier than 1976, when Sears expended its final attorney fees and costs in connection with the Ervin suit. The instant case is thus distinguishable from Del Bianco v. American Motorists Insurance Co. (1979), 73 Ill. App. 3d 743, 392 N.E.2d 120, relied on by American, where the insurance policy under consideration contained no clause dictating the time at which a suit by the insured could be brought. WELCH, P.J., and KAHNS, J., concur.