{"id":901025,"date":"2023-04-05T15:16:50","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T21:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=901025"},"modified":"2023-04-05T15:16:55","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T21:16:55","slug":"timely-written-notice-of-a-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/timely-written-notice-of-a-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Judicial Reminder for Policyholders to Carefully Review Policy Language and Provide Timely Notice of a \u201cClaim\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Stephen Foresta, Aaron Jaroff and Lee Royster | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propolicyholder.com\/2023\/03\/another-judicial-reminder-for-policyholders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">McGuireWoods<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Insurance policies invariably require insureds to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/contractual-notice-provision-failure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">submit timely written notice<\/a> of a \u201cClaim\u201d made by third parties to obtain coverage from the insurer.\u00a0 A recent decision from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is yet another reminder that insureds need to closely analyze what constitutes a \u201cClaim\u201d under their policies in order to comply with the timely notice requirement.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The issue of providing timely notice gained attention late last year in a widely-publicized&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/11\/02\/us\/harvard-insurance-affirmative-action.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ruling<\/a>&nbsp;that Harvard University could not access $15 million in potential insurance coverage to pay for legal expenses incurred in a lawsuit concerning Harvard\u2019s race-conscious admissions program.&nbsp; In that case, the court found that Harvard failed to formally notify its insurer until more than a year after the policy period ended, and rejected Harvard\u2019s argument that because the insurer was aware of the high-profile litigation, it could not have been prejudiced by the late notice.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On March 20, 2023, Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/media.mcguirewoods.com\/publications\/2023\/pine-management-colony-insurance-opinion.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">opinion<\/a>&nbsp;that further illustrates the consequences of failing to understand what constitutes a \u201cClaim\u201d triggering the notice requirement under an insurance policy.&nbsp; In&nbsp;<em>Pine Management Co. v. Colony Insurance Co.<\/em>, the insured, Pine Management, brought suit against its insurer, Colony Insurance Company, after Colony refused to defend and indemnify Pine against a third-party lawsuit.&nbsp; The policy at issue covered the period from August 1, 2018 to December 1, 2019.&nbsp; Importantly, the term \u201cClaim\u201d was defined as \u201ca written demand received by the Insured for monetary, non-monetary or injunctive relief.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before the Colony policy incepted, Pine had received a letter from an attorney representing a group of companies managed by Pine, advising of \u201cserious issues arising from Pine\u2019s management\u201d and claims against Pine that \u201cshould survive a motion to dismiss and a motion for summary judgment.\u201d&nbsp; The letter specified some of the bases for those claims, requested non-monetary relief and the right to inspect documents, and suggested that the parties schedule a meeting in an effort to resolve the claims without the need for litigation.&nbsp; More than a year later, on July 26, 2019, the companies filed a complaint in New York state court alleging similar claims and facts as the earlier letter.&nbsp; After receiving the complaint, Pine provided written notice to Colony.&nbsp; But Colony disclaimed coverage, contending that the wrongful acts alleged in the complaint were the same as those alleged in the letter and thus, according to Colony, constituted a \u201cClaim\u201d made prior to the inception date of the Colony policy.&nbsp; Pine filed a coverage action against Colony and Colony moved for judgment on the pleadings, arguing that it had no duty to defend or indemnify Pine under the policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Court agreed with Colony, and held that a \u201cClaim\u201d was first made against Pine when it received the letter before the policy period, not when it was served with the complaint during the policy period.&nbsp; Because the Colony policy only covered Claims first made during the policy period, Pine was not entitled to coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This decision reinforces the need for insureds to be fully familiar with the terms and conditions of their insurance policies as a general rule.\u00a0 But it is especially important to know what facts and circumstances could trigger an insured\u2019s obligation to submit notice of a claim to its insurer, even in the absence of formal litigation commenced against the insured.\u00a0 For example, \u201ca written demand received by the Insured for monetary, non-monetary or injunctive relief,\u201d such as the letter received in\u00a0<em>Pine Management<\/em>, will often be enough to require notice to the insurer.\u00a0 Without knowing what triggers an obligation to submit notice of a claim, however, insureds may lose the right to coverage for an otherwise valid Claim.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stephen Foresta, Aaron Jaroff and Lee Royster | McGuireWoods Insurance policies invariably require insureds to submit timely written notice of a \u201cClaim\u201d made by third parties to obtain coverage from the insurer.\u00a0 A recent decision from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is yet another reminder that insureds need&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/timely-written-notice-of-a-claim\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Another Judicial Reminder for Policyholders to Carefully Review Policy Language and Provide Timely Notice of a \u201cClaim\u201d<\/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":[11015],"tags":[9895,188,23,11869],"class_list":["post-901025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-claims","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction-claims","tag-insurance-coverage","tag-written-notice","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>Another Judicial Reminder for Policyholders to Carefully Review Policy Language and Provide Timely Notice of a \u201cClaim\u201d - Advise &amp; 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