HNRK Coverage Corner

On December 26, 2019, the First Department issued a decision in Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co. v. State Nat’l Ins. Co., 2019 NY Slip Op 09399, holding that a property owner was entitled to coverage for a personal injury lawsuit as an additional insured under a contractor’s CGL Policy, even though the injuries were not caused by the contractor’s negligence.

This case involves a frequently-litigated policy provision in construction-related insurance coverage matters:  the blanket “additional insureds” endorsement to a contractor’s liability policy. (See our previous ...

On November 20, 2019, Judge Ramos of the SDNY issued a decision in United Specialty Ins. Co. v. Lux Maintenance & Ren. Corp., Case No. 18-cv-3083 (ER), holding that property owners were entitled to additional insured coverage under a subcontractor’s CGL policy even though the subcontractor agreement misidentified the corporate names of the owners.

Lux Maintenance arose from injuries sustained by a worker in the course of performing balcony and façade repairs to a building collectively owned by Cornell and Rockefeller Universities, New York Hospital, Manhattan Eye Ear & Throat ...

On October 28, 2019, Justice Borrok of the New York County Commercial Division issued a decision in Travelers Prop. Cas. Co. of Am. v. ICCO Cheese Co., Inc., 2019 NY Slip Op 33224(U), holding that a CGL carrier had no duty to defend consumer fraud class actions against Walmart because the complaints did not allege claims for “bodily injury” or “property damage.”

Walmart was sued in class actions across the country (consolidated in an MDL proceeding) for allegedly mislabeling parmesan cheese sold under its Great Value brand as “100% grated Parmesan cheese when, in reality, it ...

On October 18, 2019, Justice Crane of the New York County Supreme Court issued a decision in Cookies on Fulton, Inc. v. Aspen Specialty Ins. Co., 2019 NY Slip Op 33111(U), holding that an exclusion for claims arising from “any construction or renovation-related activity except for janitorial or maintenance related work” did not excuse a CGL carrier’s duty to defend the insured business owner in a lawsuit for injuries sustained in the course of “changing light fixtures.”

The vague allegations in the complaint (typical in personal injury actions) “suggest[ed] that the ...

On September 26, 2019, Judge Abrams of the SDNY issued a decision in Jovani Fashion, Ltd. v. Fed. Ins. Co., Case No. 17-CV-4518, holding that a complaint alleging that a fashion designer's garment infringed the plaintiff’s copyrighted lace textile design did not trigger “advertising injury” coverage under the designer’s general and excess liability policies.

The insured (Jovani Fashion) argued that “the Subject Design” constituted an “advertisement” under the “the advertising model in the fabric making industry or other industries that use sample ...