329 N.C. 690 | N.C. | 1991
Plaintiff Helen Barnes was injured in a collision with the insured defendants Hardy. Plaintiffs filed suit and defendant insurer, United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company (“USF&G”), offered $49,900 in settlement. The liability limit on the policy was $50,000, and coverage included “all defense costs we incur.”
Plaintiffs eventually accepted $50,000 from defendant insurer, but the parties could not agree on whether USF&G was responsible for prejudgment interest in excess of its liability limits. They submitted to a declaratory judgment action in which the trial court held USF&G was not liable for such interest.
Plaintiffs appealed to the Court of Appeals, which affirmed over Judge Cozort’s dissent. Plaintiffs appealed to us as of right.
Sproles controls the decision in this case. The policy terms denoting coverage of defense costs here are identical to those in Sproles. We therefore follow Sproles and affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals.
Affirmed.