Along with co-counsel Pete Kennedy of Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody, Gauntlett & Associates represented SXSW, host of the annual South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. Chubb denied its duty to defend or indemnify SXSW in a class-action lawsuit following cancellation of the 2020 event due to COVID regulations. In SXSW, L.L.C. v. Fed. Ins. Co., No. 22-50933, 2024 WL 1216560 (5th Cir. (Tex.) Mar. 21, 2024), pet. for reh. den. (May 16, 2024), the Fifth Circuit reversed the district court, concluding that Federal (Chubb’s subsidiary) had a duty to defend SXSW in the class-action lawsuit.

In Passport 420, LLC v. Starr Indemnity & Liability Co., Case No. 19-CV-03596 (Superior Court of California—Santa Barbara May 17, 2024), David Gauntlett served as the last witness addressing improprieties in Starr’s handling of a claim involving the IRS’s seizure of an aircraft. He addressed Starr’s failure to adhere to industry customs and practices both in its investigative process and subsequent denial of coverage. His testimony helped secure a jury verdict awarding Passport 420 $4 million in compensatory damages and $15 million in punitive damages for bad faith.

Gauntlett & Associates secured reversal of Tokio Marine’s wrongful denial of defense for a property damage claim four months after filing of the initial complaint in Houser Holdings CA, LLC, v. Tokio Marine Specialty Ins. Co., Case No. 3:24-cv-01123 (N.D. Cal. June 21, 2024). After storms caused a sinkhole that rendered a community access road unusable, Mendocino County erected an emergency bridge. The county held a hearing in which it sought to recover $239,504.97 for its work. Tokio Marine denied any obligation to defend Houser in that proceeding because it did not qualify as a “suit” as defined by the policy. Judge Orrick reversed the denial of a defense because of the proceeding’s similarity to an arbitration (explicitly defined as a “suit” by the policy) and general adherence to the California Rules of Civil Procedure.