Real estate developer’s fraud suit against insurer dismissed

A federal appeals court Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a real estate developer against Penn National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co. that charged the insurer had annually increased his coverage limits and insurance premiums without notice to account for inflation.

Ira Trocki, trading as Northfield, New Jersey-based Jack Trocki, filed the lawsuit against Harrisburg, New Jersey-based Penn National, from which he had purchased and renewed commercial insurance policies from 2006 to 2014, according to the ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia in Ira Trocki, trading as Jack Trocki Development LLC v. Penn National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co

Mr. Trocki charged Penn National with common law fraud and consumer fraud under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey.

The district court dismissed the case and was affirmed by a three-judge appeals court panel. 

“The district court correctly concluded that Trocki could not make a prima facie claim of common law fraud or consumer fraud” under the New Jersey law, the ruling said.

Mr. Trocki was “fully informed of the price and policy limits, and Penn National is not required to disclose precisely how it reached those numbers,” the panel’s ruling said.

Penn Mutual said in a statement that it was “pleased with the 3rd Circuit’s decision and, in particular, with its conclusion that the District Court properly concluded that Trocki’s claims were without merit based on the application of well-settled law to the undisputed facts.”

Mr. Trocki’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.