Finding ways to deny coverage IS part of the point of adjusting insurance claims.  Adjusters and their lawyers need to be reminded, however, that erring on the side of coverage (meeting the insured's objectively reasonable expectations) should trump coverage denial where the issue is a close one.  

This said by a former defense coverage attorney.  Link and excerpt from the excellent ABA Journal below (disclosure - yes I do advertise there; send me your most burning ADR question and I'll answer it there!)

Below, the potential wages of erring on the wrong side.

$50K Payment Ends Indy Law Firm’s $18M Nightmare 

After worrying for two years about an $18 million jury verdict, partners of Fillenwarth Dennerline Groth & Towe were presumably delighted to ante up $50,000 to the Indiana Department of Insurance in order to win release from the judgment against the law firm.

In return, the Indianapolis-based law firm has transferred to the department its bad-faith claim against its malpractice insurance carrier, Alabama-based ProNational Insurance Co., reports the Indianapolis Business Journal. The carrier refused to settle the case before trial for the Fillenwarth's firm $1 million policy limit, and a Marion County jury then handed down the massive $18 million verdict  . . . .