Morrison Mahoney Associate Brian Suslak recently prevailed on a Motion to Dismiss argued in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 

At issue was whether the statute of limitations for bringing a G.L. c. 93A claim against a liability insurer for failure to settle ran from the date that it failed to make a reasonable offer and broke off settlement negotiations before trial, or from the date of the verdict against the insured in the underlying lawsuit.  The US District Court (Woodlock, J.), agreed with our argument that the statute of limitations period ran from the date of the alleged violation of G.L. c. 93A/c. 176D and not from the date of the verdict entered against the insured.  Accordingly, the Court ruled that the Plaintiff’s claim was time barred and dismissed his lawsuit against the liability insurer.