The Firm

 

Turner Construction and SDV have won a major victory regarding the scope of additional insured coverage under New York law. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (Judges Hall, Straub and Livingston) released its decision on July 16, 2009 finding that Turner Construction Company was entitled to $10,694,746 of additional insured coverage (that with pre-judgment and post-judgment interest totals approximately $17.3 million). This decision is especially important because it reaffirms that a recent New York state high court decision, Worth Construction Co. v. Admiral Ins. Co., 888 N.E.2d 1043 (N.Y. 2008), did not erode the scope of coverage available to additional insureds in construction cases. Contrary to the insurance industry's interpretation of the Worth decision, the Second Circuit has confirmed that where a policy provides coverage to a contractor for liability "arising out of" the subcontractor's work, there only need be "some causal relationship" between the first named insured's work and the additional insured's liability.  Kemper’s petition for rehearing was denied by the Second Circuit on August 19, 2009.