HNRK Coverage Corner

On September 10, 2018, Justice Sherwood of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Freedom Specialty Ins. Co. v. Platinum Mgt. (NY), LLC, 2018 NY Slip Op 32233(U), denying a D&O insurers’ motion for summary judgment based on a prior and pending litigation exclusion (the “PPL Exclusion”). Freedom Specialty is a D&O coverage litigation arising from a criminal securities fraud prosecution in the EDNY against officers of Platinum Partners, a New York hedge fund.

Last December, Justice Sherwood issued a preliminary injunction directing three excess D&O ...

On July 7, 2018, Justice Masley of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Jiang v. Ping An Ins., 2018 NY Slip Op 31534(U), holding that coverage under an excess D&O policy was not triggered because the insured settled its coverage claim with the primary insurer for less than the policy limit and did not “absorb the gap” between the settlement amount and the policy limit.

In Jiang, a corporate officer sought coverage for the defense of a federal criminal prosecution and a parallel SEC enforcement action.  The corporation had $5 million in primary D&O coverage ...

This blog previously covered Justice Sherwood's decision in Freedom Specialty Ins. Co. v. Platinum Mgt. (NY), LLC, 2017 NY Slip Op 32728(U), which granted a preliminary injunction directing three excess D&O insurers to advance attorneys' fees and costs for the defense of a securities fraud prosecution and a related SEC enforcement action.  (N.B. HNRK Partner Bradley J. Nash represented one of the insureds and argued the preliminary injunction motion on behalf of all the insureds.)  On March 22, 2018, the First Department denied the motion of one of the excess insurers (Freedom ...

On December 27, 2017, Justice Sherwood of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Freedom Specialty Ins. Co. v. Platinum Mgt. (NY), LLC, 2017 NY Slip Op 32728(U), granting a preliminary injunction directing three excess D&O insurers to advance defense costs for the defense of a federal securities fraud prosecution, and related civil actions (N.B. I represented one of the insureds in this case, and I argued the preliminary injunction motion on behalf of all the insureds. See Law360’s coverage of the oral argument on the preliminary injunction motion here).

The ...