On April 2, 2026, Foran Glennon shareholder Matthew Ponzi secured summary judgment in full for his insurer client in a first-party property coverage dispute in the Northern District of Illinois, with U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert entering judgment for the defense on all counts and denying the plaintiffs’ cross-motion.
The case centered on the plaintiffs’ claim that a June 2019 storm caused a power outage and electrical surge at their Aurora, Illinois commercial building, rendering it uninhabitable. The plaintiffs, limited liability companies that owned the building, sought more than $15 million in damages for property damage, total loss of the building, and lost business income, along with statutory bad faith damages.
Foran Glennon’s defense focused on two key pillars:
- Neither of the plaintiffs’ two key witnesses were present at the building on the date of the alleged loss, rendering their accounts of the storm event inadmissible hearsay.
- Pre-existing pump failures, water-damaged electrical panels, repeated city code violations, and acknowledgment that deferred maintenance, rather than a fortuitous storm event, was responsible for the building’s condition.
Critically, the defense was able to keep out plaintiffs’ hearsay evidence that the June 28, 2019 storm caused direct physical damage to the building itself. With that evidence excluded, there was no admissible evidence linking a fortuitous event to the alleged loss, and the court found that plaintiffs failed to meet their threshold burden of proof under Illinois all-risk policy law, dismissing all three counts and entering judgment for Matt’s client in full.
Matt concentrates his practice in insurance coverage and commercial litigation, specifically in the analysis and litigation of commercial property, liability, and reinsurance claims. Clients trust his extensive trial experience at both the federal and state level when faced with challenging litigation matters.