An Illinois Appellate Court recently issued an opinion which may make subrogating against a negligent tenant more challenging. Auto Owners Ins. Company a/s/o John Ellis v. Thomas Callaghan, 952 N.E.2d 119 (Ill.App.3d 2011) involved a landlord’s carrier that sued a tenant who was leasing a house. The plaintiff insurer alleged that the tenant was negligent in starting a fire that caused over $250,000 in damages to the house. The tenant filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit based on Illinois’ implied coinsured doctrine. The trial court granted the tenant’s motion and the Third District Appellate Court affirmed.
The Court’s decision was based on its interpretation of the seminal case outlining the implied coinsured rule in Illinois, Dix Mutual Ins. Co. v. LaFramboise, 597 N.E.2d 622 (Ill. 1992). This Illinois Supreme Court case set forth the rule regarding tenant liability: “although a tenant is generally liable for the fire damage caused by his negligence, if the parties intended to exculpate the tenant from negligently caused fire damage, their intent will be enforced.” Because the language can vary, the courts were to interpret the lease “as a whole so as to give effect to the intent of the parties.” The Dix court ruled that the Defendant in that case was afforded implied coinsured status. A key factor in the decision was a provision in the lease requiring the landlord to maintain property insurance, which the court construed as the parties’ intent that property insurance would cover losses to the property. The court held that the tenant’s rent payments contributed to the premium for the property insurance, making the tenant an implied coinsured. Further, in the Dix lease, there was no provision making the tenant responsible for damages that he caused..jpg)
The lease in Auto Owners contained no provision regarding insurance. It did contain a provision stating that the tenant’s security deposit would pay for any damages that the tenant, their guests or invitees may inflict upon the dwelling unit, and that the tenant’s liability is not limited to the amount of the security deposit. Despite these differences, the Auto Owners court ruled that there was no provision in the lease that imposed liability upon the tenant for fire damage. The court further found that by the tenant’s payment of rent, he obtained the status of a coinsured under the landlord’s policy, and could not be sued for fire damage by the landlord or its insurer. The Auto Owners court distorted the rule in Dix. Instead of applying the rule that the tenant is liable unless the lease demonstrates intent to exculpate the tenant from liability, Auto Owners suggests that the rule is that the lease provision needs to place liability on a tenant. Further, even though there was no mention of insurance in the Auto Owners lease, the holding suggests that the tenant can be considered an implied coinsured if the landlord has property insurance.
It is still viable for a landlord’s insurer to pursue a tenant in subrogation in Illinois. However, Auto Owners may signal a trend that certain additional factors will need to be demonstrated to subrogate against a negligent tenant.
