{"id":902643,"date":"2024-05-03T09:39:04","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T15:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=902643"},"modified":"2024-05-03T09:39:08","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T15:39:08","slug":"duty-to-defend-in-additional-insured-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/duty-to-defend-in-additional-insured-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Court Reiterates Broad Duty to Defend in Additional Insured Cases"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Craig Rokuson | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.traublieberman.com\/perspectives\/federal-court-reiterates-broad-duty-to-defend-in-additional-insured-cases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Traub Lieberman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the recent case of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/plus.lexis.com\/api\/document\/collection\/cases\/id\/6BJB-B9R3-RS3N-V49D-00000-00?cite=2024%20U.S.%20Dist.%20LEXIS%2044634&amp;context=1530671\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><em>Travelers Indem. Co. of Am. v. Accredited Sur. &amp; Cas. Co.<\/em>, No. 21-CV-7189 (FB) (JRC), 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44634 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 13, 2024)<\/a>, the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York had occasion to consider an additional insured tender on behalf of a prime contractor, Archstone, to a subcontractor, Topline, who was named as a direct defendant in a New York labor law case. Even though Topline\u2019s carrier put forth evidence that Topline was not negligent, the court held, under New York\u2019s broad duty to defend, that Topline\u2019s carrier owed a duty to defend the prime contractor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Initially, the court was satisfied that a purchase order, signed only by Topline and not Archstone, was binding on Topline. That purchase order specified that Topline agreed to name Archstone as an additional insured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With respect to the duty to defend, the court found that it was enough that the underlying plaintiff alleged that all defendants, including Topline, were negligent in permitting a ladder that plaintiff was on to remain in a defective condition and in failing to foresee the existence of a hazard from the condition of the subject ladder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Topline\u2019s carrier argued that Topline cannot be held liable in the underlying action, and cited cases to that effect. However, the court held that the merits of the case are irrelevant to the duty to defend. The court noted that, in certain cases, extrinsic evidence may defeat the duty to defend under New York law, but in this case, it could not conclude that there is \u201cno possible factual or legal basis on which [Topline\u2019s insurer] might eventually be obligated to indemnify its insured under any policy provision,\u201d which is the standard for establishing a duty to defend does not exist. The court also dismissed Topline\u2019s carrier\u2019s argument that the injuries must have been proximately caused by Topline pursuant to the New York Court of Appeals\u2019 standard set in&nbsp;<em>Burlington Ins. Co. v. NYC Transit Auth.<\/em>, 29 N.Y.3d 313, 321, 57 N.Y.S.3d 85, 79 N.E.3d 477 (2017). The court stated that the allegations that Topline was negligent in the underlying complaint sufficed to establish the carrier\u2019s duty to defend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, as is the case in most additional insured situations, the court held that Topline\u2019s policy is primary to Archstone\u2019s. This is because the Archstone policy provides that it is excess to any other insurance available to Archstone as an additional insured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This case illustrates the broad duty to defend in New York. Indeed, mere allegations of negligence against a named insured will likely trigger the duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\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\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Craig Rokuson | Traub Lieberman In the recent case of\u00a0Travelers Indem. Co. of Am. v. Accredited Sur. &amp; Cas. Co., No. 21-CV-7189 (FB) (JRC), 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44634 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 13, 2024), the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York had occasion to consider an additional insured tender on behalf of&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/duty-to-defend-in-additional-insured-cases\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Federal Court Reiterates Broad Duty to Defend in Additional Insured Cases<\/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":[10],"tags":[382,9895,57,303],"class_list":["post-902643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-duty-to-defend","tag-additional-insured","tag-advise-consult","tag-duty-to-defend-2","tag-new-york","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>Federal Court Reiterates Broad Duty to Defend in Additional Insured Cases - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This case illustrates the broad duty to defend. 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