HNRK Coverage Corner

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 ...

On September 20, 2018, the First Department issued a decision in J.P. Morgan Sec., Inc. v. Vigilant Ins. Co., 2018 NY Slip Op 06146, holding that a disgorgement payment made as part of the settlement of an SEC enforcement action was a “penalty” and therefore did not qualify as a covered “loss” under a CGL policy.

At issue in J.P. Morgan v. Vigilant was a settlement the SEC reached with Bear Stearns, resulting from allegations that “Bear Stearns violated securities laws between 1999 and September 2003 by knowingly facilitating ‘late trading’and deceptive ‘market ...