Burglars broke into a warehouse in Aurora, Colo., ransacked it for hours and set it on fire. Despite a sophisticated burglar alarm system, which sent multiple warnings, the alarm company never called the police. The 2002 fire destroyed millions of dollars of inventory owned by Core-Mark International, one of North America’s largest distributors of merchandise to convenience stores.

Recently, DGS Partner Andy Low delivered an appellate victory to Core-Mark and its insurers, which had sued Sonitrol Corp., the company that installed and monitored the burglar alarm. The decision extended Low’s win streak to 20 of his last 21 appeals.

On July 24, the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s dismissal of Core-Mark’s lawsuit and reinstated the case, agreeing with Low’s argument that a clause in Sonitrol’s contract limiting its liability to $500 was unenforceable if Core-Mark could prove that Sonitrol’s failure to call the police amounted to willful and wanton conduct.

The appellate court also agreed that Core-Mark had produced enough evidence for a jury to find that Sonitrol’s conduct was willful and wanton.