Nautilus Insurance Company v. Bee Quality Inc.:Date Argued: January 29th, 2026; Docket Number: 25-1912

Case Summary:Nautilus Insurance Company issued a commercial general liability policy to Bee Quality Inc., a roofing contractor, covering certain work performed between February 8, 2022, and February 8, 2023, and then filed a declaratory-judgment action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (No. 1:23‑cv‑16782) seeking a declaration that it had no duty to defend or indemnify Bee Quality in an underlying lawsuit alleging that Bee Quality’s negligent repair work on a building façade contributed to a collapse that killed two people.In that district court action, Nautilus moved for judgment on the pleadings based largely on a Prior Works Exclusion in the policy, the court agreed with Nautilus that the exclusion applied and did not render coverage illusory, and on April 16, 2025, the court entered judgment in Nautilus’s favor, holding that Nautilus had no duty to defend or indemnify Bee Quality in the underlying wrongful‑death suit; Bee Quality then filed a notice of appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, where the case is now pending as Nautilus Insurance Company v. Bee Quality Inc., No. 25‑1912, with Bee Quality as appellant and oral argument held on January 29, 2026.