Northfield Insurance Company prevailed in its motion for summary judgment last month to avoid representing a property where a shooting took place.
The motion was filed and ruled on in the U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Florida’s Fort Myers Division. Northfield sued Ayyad Brothers Enterprises, which ran Fort Myers' venue Fly Lounge. The property was leased from its co-defendants Omni Realty, LLC and IMC Equity Group. After a shooting at Fly Lounge, Northfield determined several misrepresentations on the Ayyad Brothers’ insurance application. It asked the court to void the policy, reimburse it for payments owed for the defendants, and in the alternative for a declaration that the policy won’t cover claims from a second shooting at a separate spot.
“An insurer is entitled to rely upon the accuracy of the information in an application, and has no duty to make additional inquiry,” wrote U.S. District Judge John E. Steele as he granted Northfield summary judgment for Counts I and III against the Ayyad Brothers (the judge also granted a motion that removed the other two defendants).
Northfield said had it known that Fly Lounge retained security, doormen and people checking IDs, hosted live events, and was run as a nightclub instead of a restaurant, it would have never insured the venue to begin with. Ayyad Brothers also confessed that it misrepresented itself on the insurance application, knowing that Northfield wouldn’t have insured it, at least not with the policies it did, if Ayyad Brothers were honest.
Judge Steele ruled that the Feb. 23, 2019 – Feb. 23, 2020 policy was null and void, and that Northfield doesn’t have to represent Ayyad Brothers, Colonial, or IMC in the lawsuits stemming from the shooting.
He instructed the clerk to close out any remaining deadlines and close out the court file.