In The Roman Catholic Diocese v. National Union Fire Ins. Co., 87 AD3d 1057 (2nd Dept. 2011), the court determined that alleged acts of sexual abuse in an underlying action constituted multiple occurrences, that the settlement amount and any "additional consideration" are to be allocated on a pro rata basis over seven policy periods and the plaintiffs must exhaust a $250,000 self-insured retention for each Commercial General Liability policy implicated.

On October 17, 2011 in Taveras v. American Transit Insurance Company, 2011 NY Slip Opinion 51831, a trial court in Brooklyn awarded bad faith damages of $2,250,000 plus interest from April 14, 2006 against American Transit. Justice Schack of the Supreme Court, Kings County began his 60 page decision with colloquy between Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise from the classic scene in A Few Good Men, concluding that American Transit refused not only to acknowledge the truth, but to handle it.

In Re East 51st Street Crane Collapse Litigation, 2011 Slip Op 03912 (1st Dept. May 2011), the court found that settlement by Lincoln General Insurance Company under a commercial general liability policy issued to defendant, Joy Contractors, Inc., extinguished Lincoln’s obligations to provide a defense for the insured and additional insured under the Joy policy.

In Ciampa Estates, LLC v. Tower Insurance Company, 2011 Slip Op 03911 (1st Dept. May 2011), the court reminded us that timely notice by a named insured does not satisfy the independent obligation of an additional insured to similarly provide notice of a claim or loss. Notice from another insured or from another source does not satisfy an insured’s obligation to provide timely notice and this was not a situation where two parties were united in interest, which provides an exception to this general rule.

In an interesting and lengthy decision involving the obligation of a vehicle lessor and their ability to pursue a claim for indemnification, the Eastern District of New York also ruled on a claim by the insureds that Nationwide, their insurer, acted in bad faith in settling an action and failing to obtain a release of the potential indemnification claims of the lessor as against them. Danielle Macready was driving a Pathfinder that her parents had leased from Bay Ridge Nissan, Inc. when she collided with Kaplan, a 68 year old bicyclist, who allegedly sustained significant injuries.

On May 13th, Lewis Johs’ partner, Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, will lecture at the New York State Bar Association seminar entitled Insurance Update 2011 –What every practitioner needs to know. The program will address insurance coverage for social media and blogging, insurer bad faith, environmental coverage claims, and additional insured coverage issues. Elizabeth also serves as overall statewide co-chair for the program which is being held at various locations throughout the state and chairperson for the Long Island venue.

In State Farm Auto Ins. Co. v. Langan, decided by the New York Court of Appeals on March 29, 2011 (2011 NY Slip Op 02437) the New York Court of Appeals determined that an insured, who was the victim of an intentional act, was entitled to uninsured motorist benefits, opining that the occurrence must be viewed from the insured's perspective.

In Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co. v. Maitland, 2010 WL 4978018 2010, the appellate division affirmed the trial court's determination which denied the insurer summary judgment and an order declaring that it had no duty to defend or indemnify its insured in an underlying personal injury action. The underlying incident occurred on January 24, 2007 when the claimant was injured when defendant/insured Alex Maitland lost his balance after attempting to pick the claimant up onto his shoulders and she struck her head on the floor temporarily losing consciousness.

In Bellavia & Franchised Distrib., Inc. v. Seneca Ins. Co., 2010 NY Slip Opinion 08923 (2nd Dept. 11-30-2010), defendant Seneca issued the plaintiff a comprehensive business liability insurance policy. The policy contained a notice condition obligating the insured to notify Seneca "as soon as practicable" of a covered occurrence. An incident occurred on August 10, 2004 and the insured first provided notice of a personal injury claim against them on April 26, 2005.

In Downey v. 10 Realty Co., LLC, 2010 NY Slip Opinion 08637 (1st Dept. 2010), the court held that the insurer had no duty to defend and indemnify its insured where plaintiff's bill of particulars and deposition testimony indicated that her injuries occurred outside the policy period.