{"id":897081,"date":"2020-02-18T15:59:14","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T22:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=897081"},"modified":"2020-02-18T15:59:20","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T22:59:20","slug":"court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"Applying Mighty Midgets, NY Court Awards Legal Expenses to Insureds Which Defeated Insurer\u2019s Coverage Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Anthony L. Miscoscia and Timothy A. Carroll | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whiteandwilliams.com\/resources-alerts-Applying-Mighty-Midgets-NY-Court-Awards-Legal-Expenses-to-Insureds-Which-Defeated-Insurers-Coverage-Claims.html\">White and Williams<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is an insured (or putative insured) entitled to recover its legal expenses if it is successful in coverage litigation? In some states, no. In many other states, yes \u2013 based on either a statute or the common law. In New York, an insured\u00a0<em>may<\/em>\u00a0recover such expenses if it was \u201ccast in a defensive posture by the legal steps an insurer takes in an effort to free itself from its policy obligations,\u201d and, while forced into that posture, the insured defeats the insurer\u2019s claim.\u00a0<em>Mighty Midgets, Inc. v. Centennial Ins. Co.<\/em>,\u00a0389 N.E.2d 1080, 1085 (N.Y. 1979). As a corollary to that rule, the insured is\u00a0<em>not<\/em>\u00a0entitled to its expenses \u201cin an affirmative action brought by [the insured] to settle its rights. . . .\u201d\u00a0<em>Id.<\/em>\u00a0at 1085. Earlier this week, the New York federal court in\u00a0<em>United Specialty Ins. Co. v. Lux Maint. &amp; Ren. Corp.<\/em>,\u00a02019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 201805 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 20, 2019) became the latest to apply the\u00a0<em>Mighty Midgets<\/em>\u00a0rule, awarding several insureds their legal expenses after defeating the insurer\u2019s declaratory judgment action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;<em>Lux<\/em>, the CGL insurer of a fa\u00e7ade-renovation contractor sued the contractor (its named insured) and several owners of a hospital (putative additional insureds) at which the fa\u00e7ade-renovation work took place, claiming that the insurer did not owe a defense or indemnity to any of those companies in connection with an underlying bodily injury action brought by an employee of the contractor who was injured while performing the work. The insurer and the putative additional insureds filed cross-motions for summary judgment on the coverage issues, with the putative additional insureds also seeking to recover their legal expenses for defending against the insurer\u2019s action. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York concluded that, based on the contractor\u2019s agreement to provide coverage for the hospital owners, and a comparison between the underlying allegations and the policy, the insurer owed the hospital owners coverage as additional insureds to the contractor\u2019s policy; the court also concluded that the insurer owed coverage for the contractor\u2019s contractual defense and indemnity obligations to the hospital owners. After concluding that the insurer\u2019s claim that it did not owe coverage lacked merit, the court turned to the additional insureds\u2019 request for their legal expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The court examined the \u201cwell settled\u201d rule under New York law \u201cthat an insured cannot recover his legal expenditure in a dispute with an insurer over coverage, even if the insurer loses and is obligated to provide coverage,\u201d but also New York\u2019s \u201climited exception\u201d to that rule, \u201cunder which an insured who is \u2018cast in a defensive posture by the legal steps an insurer takes in an effort to free itself from its policy obligations, and who prevails on the merits, may recover attorneys\u2019 fees incurred in defending against the insurer\u2019s action.\u2019 \u201d&nbsp;<em>Lux<\/em>, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 201805, at *18 (quoting Mighty Midgets, 389 N.E.2d at 1085).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Applying the&nbsp;<em>Mighty Midgets<\/em>&nbsp;exception to the general rule, the court concluded that, in&nbsp;<em>Lux<\/em>, \u201cit is undisputed that [the insurer] initiated the instant declaratory action against the [hospital owners], seeking to deny its duty to defend and indemnify,\u201d and those owners \u201chave successfully defended against [the insurer\u2019s] motion for summary judgment and prevailed on their cross motion, thereby prevailing on the merits.\u201d Id. at *19. Thus, the court held, the hospital owners\/additional insureds were entitled to an award of their legal expenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anthony L. Miscoscia and Timothy A. Carroll | White and Williams Is an insured (or putative insured) entitled to recover its legal expenses if it is successful in coverage litigation? In some states, no. In many other states, yes \u2013 based on either a statute or the common law. In New York, an insured\u00a0may\u00a0recover such&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Applying Mighty Midgets, NY Court Awards Legal Expenses to Insureds Which Defeated Insurer\u2019s Coverage Claims<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9914],"tags":[9895,23,10904],"class_list":["post-897081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance-coverage","tag-advise-consult","tag-insurance-coverage","tag-insurance-coverage-claims","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Applying Mighty Midgets, NY Court Awards Legal Expenses to Insureds Which Defeated Insurer\u2019s Coverage Claims - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is an insured (or putative insured) entitled to recover its legal expenses if it is successful in coverage litigation? In some states no, many states yes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Applying Mighty Midgets, NY Court Awards Legal Expenses to Insureds Which Defeated Insurer\u2019s Coverage Claims - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is an insured (or putative insured) entitled to recover its legal expenses if it is successful in coverage litigation? In some states no, many states yes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-18T22:59:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-18T22:59:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\"},\"headline\":\"Applying Mighty Midgets, NY Court Awards Legal Expenses to Insureds Which Defeated Insurer\u2019s Coverage Claims\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-18T22:59:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-18T22:59:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/\"},\"wordCount\":604,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Advise &amp; Consult\",\"insurance coverage\",\"Insurance Coverage Claims\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Insurance Coverage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/\",\"name\":\"Applying Mighty Midgets, NY Court Awards Legal Expenses to Insureds Which Defeated Insurer\u2019s Coverage Claims - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-18T22:59:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-18T22:59:20+00:00\",\"description\":\"Is an insured (or putative insured) entitled to recover its legal expenses if it is successful in coverage litigation? In some states no, many states yes.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"description\":\"Construction Expert Witnesses\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Advise & Consult\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"width\":162,\"height\":75,\"caption\":\"Advise & Consult\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Applying Mighty Midgets, NY Court Awards Legal Expenses to Insureds Which Defeated Insurer\u2019s Coverage Claims - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"Is an insured (or putative insured) entitled to recover its legal expenses if it is successful in coverage litigation? In some states no, many states yes.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Applying Mighty Midgets, NY Court Awards Legal Expenses to Insureds Which Defeated Insurer\u2019s Coverage Claims - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","og_description":"Is an insured (or putative insured) entitled to recover its legal expenses if it is successful in coverage litigation? In some states no, many states yes.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/","og_site_name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","article_published_time":"2020-02-18T22:59:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-18T22:59:20+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adviseconsult","twitter_site":"@adviseconsult","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7"},"headline":"Applying Mighty Midgets, NY Court Awards Legal Expenses to Insureds Which Defeated Insurer\u2019s Coverage Claims","datePublished":"2020-02-18T22:59:14+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-18T22:59:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/"},"wordCount":604,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Advise &amp; Consult","insurance coverage","Insurance Coverage Claims"],"articleSection":["Insurance Coverage"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/","name":"Applying Mighty Midgets, NY Court Awards Legal Expenses to Insureds Which Defeated Insurer\u2019s Coverage Claims - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-02-18T22:59:14+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-18T22:59:20+00:00","description":"Is an insured (or putative insured) entitled to recover its legal expenses if it is successful in coverage litigation? In some states no, many states yes.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/court-awards-legal-expenses-to-insurance-coverage-claim\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"Construction Expert Witnesses","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Advise & Consult","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","width":162,"height":75,"caption":"Advise & Consult"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com"]}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ztG6-3Ln3","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897081"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":897082,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897081\/revisions\/897082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}