P&W Defeats Claims for Cost of Repairs to Neighbor’s Property

R.J. VanSwol and Tom Underwood obtained summary judgment against demands that a restaurant's insurance company shoulder the cost of repairs for the pet store next door to the restaurant. After a fire destroyed the restaurant, the insurer paid the restaurant for its losses, and the restaurant abandoned the premises rather than rebuild. The pet store's insurer brought this suit alleging that the restaurant and pet store shared a common party wall, and that the restaurant and its insurer should pay half the cost of repairs for deterioration that the wall sustained after the restaurant abandoned the premises. We promptly moved for summary judgment, and the federal court for the Central District of Illinois agreed that the pet store's insurer could not bring a claim for equitable contribution or subrogation against the restaurant's insurer because the insurers did not insure the same parties. The court also dismissed the restaurant's cross-claims against its insurer, which concerned the same issues as the insurer's pending declaratory action in state court.