NY High Court Levels Playing Field For Insureds

In New York High Court Gives the Bronx Cheer to Insurers’ Pro Rata Allocation and Exhaustion Arguments, Pillsbury attorney Benjamin D. Tievsky discusses New York State Court of Appeals’ decision in In re Viking Pump, Inc. The Court of Appeals accepted two certified questions from the Delaware Supreme Court. As noted by Ben, “in a New York minute,” the Court of Appeals has “leveled the playing field by endorsing the ‘all sums’ and ‘vertical exhaustion’ approach to allocation advocated by a policyholder, at least as to policies containing ‘non-cumulation’ and ‘prior insurance’ provisions.” This ruling will be of interest to those who have encountered in New York barriers to insurance coverage where multiple policies over multiple policy terms are implicated, including, but not limited to, coverage for environmental or asbestos liabilities.