BASED UPON THE POLICY LANGUAGE, AN ALL SUMS ALLOCATION AND VERTICAL EXHAUSTION APPLY TO EXCESS INSURANCE POLICIES IN THIS ASBESTOS INJURY ACTION.
The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Stein, determined, pursuant to the language and provisions of the relevant excess insurance policies, (1) an “all sums,” as opposed to a “pro-rata,” allocation applies, and (2) vertical, as opposed to horizontal, exhaustion of available policies applies. The underlying claims relate to asbestos exposure over a period of years in the manufacture of pumps:
[The “all sums”] theory of allocation “permits the insured to ‘collect its total liability . . . under any policy in effect during’ the periods that the damage occurred,” up to the policy limits … . The burden is then on the insurer against whom the insured recovers to seek contribution from the insurers that issued the other triggered policies … . * * *
… [V]ertical exhaustion is more consistent than horizontal exhaustion with … language tying attachment of the excess policies specifically to identified policies that span the same policy period. Further, vertical exhaustion is conceptually consistent with an all sums allocation, permitting the Insured to seek coverage through the layers of insurance available for a specific year … . Matter of Viking Pump, Inc., 2016 NY Slip Op 03413, CtApp 5-3-16
INSURANCE LAW (BASED UPON THE POLICY LANGUAGE, AN ALL SUMS ALLOCATION AND VERTICAL EXHAUSTION APPLY TO EXCESS INSURANCE POLICIES IN THIS ASBESTOS INJURY ACTION)/CONTRACT LAW (INSURANCE POLICIES, BASED UPON THE POLICY LANGUAGE, AN ALL SUMS ALLOCATION AND VERTICAL EXHAUSTION APPLY TO EXCESS INSURANCE POLICIES IN THIS ASBESTOS INJURY ACTION)/ALL SUMS ALLOCATION (INSURANCE POLICIES, BASED UPON THE POLICY LANGUAGE, AN ALL SUMS ALLOCATION AND VERTICAL EXHAUSTION APPLY TO EXCESS INSURANCE POLICIES IN THIS ASBESTOS INJURY ACTION)/VERTICAL EXHAUSTION (INSURANCE POLICIES, BASED UPON THE POLICY LANGUAGE, AN ALL SUMS ALLOCATION AND VERTICAL EXHAUSTION APPLY TO EXCESS INSURANCE POLICIES IN THIS ASBESTOS INJURY ACTION)/EXCESS INSURANCE (ASBESTOS INJURY, BASED UPON THE POLICY LANGUAGE, AN ALL SUMS ALLOCATION AND VERTICAL EXHAUSTION APPLY TO EXCESS INSURANCE POLICIES IN THIS ASBESTOS INJURY ACTION)