Policyholder prevails on duty to defend, pollution exclusion, asbestos exclusion, trigger and notice A New York circuit court, applying New York law, held that primary insurer, The Burlington Insurance Company (“Burlington”), had a duty to defend its insured in the underlying lawsuits which alleged personal injury as a result of clean-up work following the World Trade Center disaster on September... Read More

Extrinsic evidence shows Cooper successor to McGraw-Edison / post-loss assignment permissible A New Jersey Appellate Court affirmed a trial judge’s ruling that Cooper Industries LLC (“Cooper”) could access primary and umbrella policies from 1971 to 1980 that were provided to its predecessor, McGraw-Edison Corp. (“McGraw Edison”) for liabilities arising from U.S.E.P.A. Superfund clean-up actions.  The policies were issued by Continental... Read More

Prior Insurance Clause entitles insurer to $2.6M setoff of $58M judgment after complex allocation analysis A New York federal district judge, applying New York law, held that Lamorak Insurance Company was only entitled to a set-off of $2.6 million against the nearly $58 million judgment Olin Corporation obtained against it in connection with costs incurred relating to environmental contamination at... Read More

Insurance broker did not have apparent authority to accept notice on behalf of insurer – notice deemed untimely An Illinois federal court, applying Illinois law, held that due to the insured’s failure to provide prompt notice, the insurer was not liable to pay any part of a $2.3M judgment.  The court found that notice to the insured’s insurance broker was... Read More

“No Costs” language unambiguously excludes defense costs from exhausting retained limits The Ninth Circuit affirmed the lower court’s ruling and held that the City of Phoenix (the “City”) was not entitled to coverage for defense or indemnity under various insurance policies because the settlement fell within the retained limit of the policies and the defense costs did not erode the... Read More

Aggregate limits exhausted because claims were from Completed Operations The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment issued by a Maryland district court that St. Paul Fire and Marine (“St. Paul”) and U.S. Fire had no further duty to defend or indemnify Walter E. Campbell Co’s (“Campbell”), in asbestos bodily injury claims made against the former insulation company. The insurers... Read More

New York law provides “All Sums” with vertical exhaustion for excess policies with non-cumulation clauses A Virginia federal court, applying New York law, issued a sprawling opinion addressing certain excess insurers’ coverage obligations for its policyholder’s asbestos liabilities.  The court held that non-cumulation clauses in excess policies required an all sums allocation under New York law.  In addition, the court... Read More

Policyholder responsible for periods when insurance unavailable The New York Court of Appeals, applying New York law, held that costs relating to the remediation of gradual, indivisible property contamination must be spread pro rata over the entire period of property damage irrespective of whether or not insurance coverage was available, with the policyholder responsible for any periods during which insurance... Read More

Two different bridge collapses are “related claims” subject to a single per claim limit A North Carolina district court, applying North Carolina law, found that two pedestrian bridge collapses were “related claims,” limiting Continental Casualty Company’s (“Continental”) liability to a $3 million per claim limit, rather than the aggregate $5 million policy limit. Stewart Engineering, Inc. (“Stewart”) was contracted to provide... Read More