In Transcontinental Ins. Co. v. Knutson Constr. Servs. (U.S. District Court District of Minnesota, 2007), Deborah Eckland and Dan Singel defended an Iowa-based limestone fabricator in a lawsuit concerning the Mary Brigh Center, one of the hospitals in the Mayo Clinic complex in Rochester, Minnesota. A barrel-vault entrance to the hospital, which was clad in limestone, was failing, and the general contractor’s insurer, Transcontinental, was seeking to enforce its subrogation rights.

In addition to the technical issues of the limestone product, this case involved complicated questions of insurance coverage, whether the subrogated insurer had standing to sue, and how the statute of limitations was intended to control in this complicated factual scenario.

Deborah and Dan brought a motion for summary judgment and argued that Transcontinental had inappropriately used the declaratory judgment procedure to assert a subrogation claim against Becker. Because Transcontinental had not yet paid a claim on behalf of its insured, Knutson Construction, Transcontinental had no standing to assert a subrogation claim against Becker. The federal district court agreed and dismissed Transcontinental’s claims against our client.