Can Third-Party Complaint Bolster a Claim As a Putative Additional Insured ?

In American Economy Insurance Co. v. DePaul University, 383 Ill. App. 3d 172, 890 N.E.2d 582, 321 Ill. Dec. 860 (2008), only the third-party complaint by the putative additional insured raised allegations of negligence against Metrick, the named insured. In DePaul University, the Court rejected consideration of the third-party complaint because it was prepared and filed by the property owner, the party seeking coverage in that case. The Court declined to allow a putative additional insured to bolster its claim of coverage by referencing its own third-party complaint. As the Court noted at oral argument, we fail to see what a party claiming to be an additional insured could state in its third-party complaint that it could not otherwise present in the declaratory judgment action. In that context, a third-party complaint cannot bolster a third-party plaintiff's claim, as a putative additional insured, that the facts in the underlying construction negligence complaint potentially fall within the policy's coverage. DePaul University, 383 Ill. App. 3d at 180.