HNRK Coverage Corner

On November 1, 2018, the Third Department issued a decision in Lafarge Bldg. Materials Inc. v Harleysville Ins. Co. of N.Y., 2018 NY Slip Op 07385, holding that a property owner was not entitled to additional insured coverage under a contractor’s CGL policy because it gave late notice of the claim.

The coverage dispute at issue in Lafarge arose from an injury sustained by a contractor’s employee in the course of a project at a cement plant owned by LaFarge Building Materials, Inc.  As required by the terms of the purchase order for the project, the contractor procure a general liability ...

On October 5, 2018, the Fourth Department issued a decision in Pioneer Cent. Sch. Dist. v. Preferred Mut. Ins. Co., 2018 NY Slip Op 06682, holding that a school district was not entitled to coverage under a cleaning company’s CGL policy – either as an additional insured or as the named insured’s contractual indemnitee – because the underlying injuries were not proximately caused by the named insured.

In Pioneer Central, a school sought coverage under a cleaning company’s CGL policy for a personal injury action by an employee of the cleaning company who was injured “when she ...

On September 20, 2018, the First Department issued a decision in J.P. Morgan Sec., Inc. v. Vigilant Ins. Co., 2018 NY Slip Op 06146, holding that a disgorgement payment made as part of the settlement of an SEC enforcement action was a “penalty” and therefore did not qualify as a covered “loss” under a CGL policy.

At issue in J.P. Morgan v. Vigilant was a settlement the SEC reached with Bear Stearns, resulting from allegations that “Bear Stearns violated securities laws between 1999 and September 2003 by knowingly facilitating ‘late trading’and deceptive ‘market ...

On September 21, 2018, the Second Circuit issued a decision in SPARTA Ins. Co. v. Technology Ins. Co., Inc., Case No. 17‐3441, holding that a liability insurer that assumed the defense of a claim was estopped from disclaiming coverage based on a nine-month delay in asserting coverage defenses and resulting prejudice to the insured. In SPARTA Ins. Co., a subcontractor’s liability carrier (SPARTA) assumed the defense of a property owner and general contractor in an injury lawsuit brought by the subcontractor’s employee, without a reservation of rights.  In later ...

On September 18, 2018, Justice Hagler of the New York County Supreme Court issued a decision in Aspen Specialty Ins. Co. v. Zurich Am. Ins. Co., 2018 NY Slip Op 32328(U), holding that property owners and their construction manager were not entitled to defense coverage under a CGL policy based on a stop work order issued by the New York City Department of Buildings.

The standard CGL policy at issue in Aspen Specialtyrequired the insurer to defend a “suit,” defined as “a civil proceeding in which damages because of . . . ‘property damage’ . . . to which this insurance applies [is ...