HNRK Coverage Corner

On February 3, 2020, Justice Sherwood of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Alexander v. Starr Surplus Lines Ins. Co., 2020 NY Slip Op 30297(U), granting a preliminary injunction directing a D&O insurer to advance defense costs to a former corporate officer for an investor lawsuit alleging fraudulent inducement.

The insurer (Starr) argued that coverage was barred by a Major Shareholder Exclusion, which provided that the policy would not cover any claim “made by the individual(s) or entity(ies) that own or control . . . 10% or more of the outstanding voting ...

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 ...

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 ...