Category: Insurance Coverage

The William Powell Company makes industrial valves. Some valves manufactured before 1987 contained asbestos. In 2001, Powell began receiving personal-injury claims emanating from asbestos exposures involving its products. Faced with potentially thousands of claims, Powell sought defense and indemnification under various insurance policies. At issue here were occurrence-based policies that were written by a predecessor to OneBeacon Insurance Company between 1955 and 1977.

OneBeacon asked the court to define “occurrence” as used in the policies as Powell’s decision to manufacture valves containing asbestos without providing …

W.R. Grace & Co. (Grace), a Chapter 11 bankruptcy debtor, at one time operated a vermiculite mine, and related mining activities released asbestos-containing dust into the atmosphere. It began facing asbestos-related lawsuits in the 1970s.

Grace filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001, and a plan of reorganization was confirmed in 2014. The plan created a trust for the payment of asbestos personal injury claims. As part of a settlement agreement, one of Grace’s liability, excess, and workers’ compensation insurers, Continental Casualty Company and …

Troy Belting & Supply Co. was named as a defendant in lawsuits alleging bodily injury caused by exposure to asbestos from products it manufactured. It became involved in a dispute with its insurers over coverage for the costs of settling such lawsuits. Pacific Employers provided coverage for Troy Belting from 1974 to 1984, and various Hartford Insurance Company entities provided coverage from 1984 to 1992.

Pacific Employers and Hartford sought reimbursement from Troy Belting for cases where they paid 100 percent of the settlement costs …

The Delaware Supreme Court took up several issues in the ongoing dispute between plaintiffs, Viking Pump, Inc. and Warren Pumps, LLC, and various insurers who issued excess policies to Viking and Warren’s predecessor, Houdaille Industries, Inc. between 1972 and 1985 (the Excess Insurers). Houdaille, and later Viking and Warren, manufactured pumps containing asbestos, and a multitude of claims against Viking and Warren related to asbestos exposure have given rise to a lengthy dispute between Viking and Warren and their insurers.

In the present decision, the …

The case involves two consolidated lawsuits — one from the federal district court for the Southern District of New York, and another from Georgia state court. The Georgia state court action was removed to federal court and then transferred to the Southern District of New York.

This lawsuits concern insurance coverage for The Fairbanks Company for liability arising from asbestos-related personal injury actions. Prior to 1984, Fairbanks manufactured packings and gaskets that contained asbestos. Fairbanks entered into insurance policies with several insurers, including Liberty, between …

Liberty Mutual had a duty to pay defense and indemnity costs for a variety of asbestos-related cases filed nationwide against its insured, York International Corporation, and York Corporation, the insured’s predecessor. Liberty Mutual had elected not to defend the underlying lawsuits or file a declaratory judgment action regarding coverage, and the underlying suits were settled by the insured. The insured then submitted the complaints in the underlying cases and invoices for defense and indemnity costs to Liberty Mutual. In this case, the court ruled on …

The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that the Massachusetts Insurers Insolvency Fund could not pierce the corporate veil or impose successor liability on a corporation that purchased the assets of another corporation, which was the subject of workplace injury claims based on exposure to asbestos and whose liability insurers had become insolvent.

Beacon Sales Company, Inc. (BSC) sold nearly all of its assets to the defendant Beacon Sales Acquisition, Inc., (BSAI) a subsidiary of defendant Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc. (BRS), in …