Result: $250k settlement, amounting to policy limits on the newly discovered insurance policies

A two-year-old toddler is playing outside at his babysitter’s house on a large expanse of land in rural Missouri. In addition to the toddler, the babysitter is also watching a number of other neighborhood kids while their parents are at work. As the toddler remains playing outside in the yard, the babysitter goes inside her house to put a pizza in the oven. Unbeknownst to the toddler, the babysitter and her family had burnt a large bonfire the evening before near the area where the toddler had been playing, and while the babysitter is inside cooking the pizza, the toddler falls into the bon fire’s still scorching hot pile of embers resulting in 3rd degree burns over a significant percentage of his entire body.

The child was airlifted to Mercy Hospital St. Louis’ renowned burn unit where he almost succumbs to his injuries. However, after a heroic effort by the hospital’s burn specialists, they were, not only able to save the toddler’s life, but through extensive skin grafts, successfully prevent the child from suffering extensive, life-long scarring. Due to an exception to the babysitter’s homeowner’s insurance policy excluding coverage for injuries related to any “for profit business” (e.g., babysitting), the babysitter’s homeowner’s insurance company initially declines coverage for the toddler’s extensive injuries.

However, following an extensive investigation by Hollingshead & Dudley’s attorneys, they are able to discover that the babysitter’s homeowner’s policy did, in fact, cover the types of injuries suffered by the toddler, and thus…