Lodholtz v. York Risk Services Group, Inc.

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-insurance adjuster’s motion for judgment on pleadings in action by plaintiff (individual who obtained rights of insured) alleging that defendant was negligent in handling underlying state-court complaint filed against insured by employee of insured who sought damages for personal injuries that were sustained in insured’s workplace where: (1) according to insured, said negligence allowed employee to obtain $3.8 million default judgment against insured; and (2) insured’s insurance company, which had hired defendant to handle said complaint, ultimately denied coverage for employee’s injuries under terms of insurance policy. Defendant, as insurance adjuster, had no relationship to insured, and thus, under Indiana law, although defendant owed duty to insurance company, it owed no legal duty to insured. Moreover, record showed that defendant had not specifically and deliberately undertaken task that, according to insured, defendant had performed negligently.