HNRK Coverage Corner

On August 15, 2019, Justice Perry of the New York County Supreme Court issued a decision in Villas of Ocean Dunes Assn., Inc. v. First Specialty Ins. Corp., 2019 NY Slip Op 32435(U), denying an insured’s petition to compel an excess insurer to submit a disputed property damage claim to appraisal under an appraisal provision in the primary policy.

The insured in Villas of Ocean Dunes was a condominium in Florida that suffered damage during Hurricane Irma.  The condominium had two insurance policies covering property damage:  a primary policy issued by Westchester Surplus Lines ...

On April 3, 2019, the Second Circuit issued a decision in Milligan v. CCC Information Servs. Inc., Dkt. Nos. 18-1405-cv, 18-1407-cv, holding that the appraisal procedure in a property insurance policy could not be used to resolve legal questions regarding the interpretation of the policy, but only to determine the amount of the covered loss.

Milligan is a putative class action, alleging that GEICO “violated Regulation 64, a New York State insurance regulation,” incorporated into the Policy, “which requires an insurer, in the case of a total loss of a current model year ...

On March 28, 2019, Judge Crotty of the SDNY issued a decision in Federal Ins. Co. v. Weinstein, Case No. 18 Civ. 2526 (PAC), granting an insured’s motion to stay a coverage action on the issue of the insurer’s duty to indemnify, pending the resolution of underlying civil and criminal proceedings against the insured, but denying the stay motion as to the duty to defend.

This coverage action arose from the numerous civil and criminal actions (some eighteen in total) against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.  Chubb commenced the action seeking a declaration that it is not obligated ...

On February 20, 2019, Justice Lebovits of the New York County Supreme Court issued a decision in Flintlock Constr. Servs. LLC v. Technology Ins. Co., 2019 NY Slip Op 30392(U), examining the “other insurance” clauses of two applicable insurance policies to determine the priority of coverage.

In some cases, more than one insurance policy may provide coverage for a given loss.  It is therefore necessary to determine the “priority of coverage” – i.e., whether one policy is "primary", and therefore, must be exhausted before another "excess" policy kicks in, or whether coverage ...

On January 31, 2019, Justice of Engoron of the New York County Supreme Court issued a decision in Southwest Mar. Gen. Ins. Co. v. Main St. Am. Assur. Co., 2019 NY Slip Op 30240(U), holding that a blanket additional insured endorsement to a subcontractor’s CGL policy required that the subcontract be executed prior to the underlying injury in order to establish coverage.

This case involves a frequently-litigated coverage issue in construction-related matters:  determining who qualifies as an additional insured under a blanket additional insured endorsement to a contractor’s ...