Roseth v. St. Paul Property & Liability Insurance Company
Supreme Court of South Dakota
374 N.W. 2d 105 (S.D. 1985)
During a trucking accident under an agreement between Jerry Roseth (plaintiff) and Richard Miller, several calves were killed and others were injured but survived; Roseth's policy with St. Paul (defendant) covered livestock mortality but excluded livestock that survived with injuries. St. Paul's adjuster, Wattleworth, told Roseth -- without having even reviewed the policy -- that the policy would cover the injured, surviving calves and helped arrange their sale to minimize losses. St. Paul later paid only for the dead or lost animals, and Roseth sued, arguing St. Paul was estopped from enforcing the survivors' exclusion because Wattleworth had let him believe he was covered. The trial court agreed and found estoppel; St. Paul appealed.
Whether equitable estoppel prevents an insurance company from denying coverage to an insured when the estopping conduct occurred after the insurance policy's inception.