Insurance Recovery

We have appeared before the Connecticut Supreme Court seven times since 1997 on major insurance coverage issues. On four of these occasions, we persuaded the Supreme Court to reverse the trial courts' rulings.

• R.T. Vanderbilt Co., Inc. v. Continental Cas. Co., 273 Conn. 448 (2005)
  (construing the meaning of "suit" to require defense for an environmental action initiated by a "Potentially Responsible Party" letter sent by the EPA)
• Buell Industries, Inc. v. Greater New York Mut. Ins. Co., 259 Conn. 527 (2002)
  (interpreting 'sudden and accidental? pollution exclusion)
• QSP, Inc. v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 256 Conn. 343 (2001)
  (analyzing duty to defend based upon the allegations of the complaint , not the facts, in a trade defamation case)
• Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 255 Conn. 295 (2001)
  (ruling that multiple asbestos cases each were separate "occurrences")
• Reichhold Chemicals, Inc. v. Hartford Acc. & Indem. Co., 252 Conn. 774 (2000)
  (reaffirming choice of law from an earlier decision)
• Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 249 Conn. 36 (1999)
  (ruling that policyholder's files were attorney-client privileged and need not be shared with insurer)
• Reichhold Chemicals, Inc. v. Hartford Acc. & Indem. Co., 243 Conn. 401 (1997)
  (announcing new approach to choice of law for Connecticut insurance coverage disputes)

We have also had numerous successes in the trial courts:

We defeated a summary judgment motion brought by an insurance carrier that claimed its policy was not triggered for millions of dollars in potential liability for alleged mold damage to a hotel in Las Vegas. The client ultimately received full defense and indemnification.
Travelers Prop. Cas. Co. of Am. v. Laticrete Int'l, Inc., 2006 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2268 (Jul. 27, 2006)

We won a jury verdict against an insurance broker who failed to procure group health insurance for almost 2000 employees.
Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians v. Lorinsky, et al., (Conn. Super. 2007) (appeal pending)
 

We defeated a motion for summary judgment brought by an insurance carrier that argued that claims for breach of warranty and breach of contract for turnkey accounting system software were not covered under an errors and omissions policy. The case settled before trial on terms favorable to our client.
AMS Services, Inc. v. Royal Surplus Lines Insurance Company, (Conn. Super. 2005)
 

We served as co-counsel to a chemical company that recovered insurance proceeds for environmental liabilities for 23 sites nationwide. During our representation, we went to trial twice and we won two unanimous decisions from the Connecticut Supreme Court that changed how the applicable law is chosen to govern insurance disputes.Reichhold Chemicals, Inc. v. Hartford Acc. & Indem. Co., 243 Conn. 401 (1997) and 252 Conn. 774 (2000).
 

We secured summary judgment requiring defense coverage under a title policy for a complicated Native American land claim.
Chicago Title Ins. Co. v. The Kent School, 361 F. Supp. 2d 4 (D. Conn. 2005) (appeal pending)

We won a jury verdict against an excess insurer to recover post-judgment interest on the underlying products liability action. The case settled on favorable terms before post-verdict motions, including "offer of judgment" interest, were determined.
Stanley Works v. CIGNA, (Conn. Super. 2005)

We successfully moved to stay or transfer coverage cases to allow their presentation in a forum of the policyholder's choosing.  Recent examples include:

• Travelers Indemnity Co. v. Longview Fibre Company, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45972 (D. Conn. 2007)
• First State Insurance Co. v. Fisher Scientific Company L.L.C., 2007 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2789 and 2007 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2800
  (Conn. Super. 2007)

• We convinced a primary insurance carrier to defend, at the cost of millions of dollars, four lawsuits in Michigan, New York and Connecticut in which the client's curtain wall product was alleged to have caused property damage in the eight figures, and we prevailed upon the primary and excess insurance carriers to pay multimillion dollar settlements and a judgment.
• We recovered more than a million dollars in coverage for environmental liabilities sustained by a manufacturer at its former facilities in New York and Utah.
• We represented policyholders in a coverage action to recover millions of dollars for the defense and settlement of an antitrust class action.
• We recovered millions of dollars in indemnification under a D&O policy for claims of emotional distress and wrongful termination.
• We successfully obtained defense and indemnity coverage under a wide range of professional liability policies.
• We have secured substantial insurance recoveries for product liability claims.
• We recovered clean-up expenses for environmental spills at an airport facility.
• We recovered several million dollars in past defense costs and an agreement to pay future defense costs for a client facing Superfund liability in Rhode Island.
• We obtained insurance funding for a Connecticut company that was the subject of a Florida DEP order to clean up its Florida plant.
• We have recovered defense and clean-up costs for a wide range of companies that were the subjects of federal or state environmental orders.

  Disclaimer: Each case has its own specific facts and legal issues. We cannot guarantee success in every individual matter.