A common feature of many liability insurance policies is a specification that the policyholder may not settle a claim without the insurer’s advance consent. However, some policies, particularly professional liability insurance policies, may require the insurer to obtain the policyholder’s consent to settlement before settling a claim. A recent ruling in a litigated coverage dispute concluded that an insurer that had not obtained the policyholder’s consent before settling a claim on behalf of one but not all defendants had breached the insurance contract, as discussed below.

The Northern District of Illinois’s May 26, 2026, decision in the case, applying Illinois law, can be found here. A May 29, 2026, LinkedIn post by Geoffrey Fehling of the Hunton Andrews Kurth law firm can be found here.