Mississippi Law Firm Sues Cyber Insurer Over Coverage for Scam

A Mississippi law firm is suing its cyber insurer, alleging the carrier wrongfully denied coverage for a roughly $150,000 loss stemming from an “elaborate” email scheme.

Gore, Kilpatrick & Dambrino PLLC was duped into wiring funds to an account controlled by scammers posing as representatives from a company that was dissolved years earlier, the law firm said in a suit filed July 11 in the US District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.

The firm in May 2024 received emails from someone falsely claiming to be David Casteel of Brooks Machinery Inc., seeking help collecting debt from an equipment company, the complaint said. GKD then received a fraudulent check that initially cleared but was later dishonored after the firm wired $158,850 to an account specified by the imposter.

Spinnaker Insurance Co. and firms providing underwriting and other services—Cowbell Cyber Inc. and Cowbell Insurance Agency LLC—denied coverage for the incident, claiming it failed to meet the policy’s definition for a covered “social engineering” loss, according to the law firm’s complaint.

The insurer defendants first said an imposter wasn’t involved in the cyber incident. They then argued the “imposter” and “fraudster” were one and the same, even though “imposter” isn’t explicitly defined in the policy, the law firm said.

“This is a nonsensical interpretation of the word ‘imposter’, and is a self-serving and contrived interpretation of the Policy for the sole purpose of avoiding coverage,” the suit said.

GKD alleges breach of contract, bad faith denial, gross negligence, post-claim underwriting, and fraud. It is also seeking the amount that it was defrauded in damages, along with “interest at the highest legal rate” and punitive damages.

Spinnaker and Cowbell didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Spinnaker is a subsidiary of “insurtech” provider Hippo Holdings Inc.

Spinnaker and Cowbell were also hit with a suit in February from a law firm in Washington state over coverage for a security breach where hackers allegedly impersonated the firm’s client.

Chapman Lewis & Swan PLLC represents GKD.

The case is Gore, Kilpatrick & Dambrino, PLLC v. Spinnaker Ins. Co., N.D. Miss., 4:25-cv-00107, complaint filed 7/11/25.