THE INSURER’S OBLIGATION TO INDEMNIFY SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DETERMINED BASED UPON THE ALLEGATIONS IN THE PLEADINGS (FIRST DEPT).
The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined that although the insurer (Everest) was required to defend the plaintiff (CCM) in the underlying action, the ruling that Everest must indemnify CCM was premature:
Supreme Court should not have found that Everest was required to indemnify CCM. Although Everest concedes that it must defend CCM, “the duty to defend is broader than the duty to indemnify,” because only the latter “is determined by the actual basis for the insured’s liability to a third person and is not measured by the allegations of the pleadings” … . In the underlying action, there has been no determination whether the plaintiff’s injury was “caused, in whole or in part, by” the acts or omissions of the named insured or of those acting on its behalf … . Therefore, any declaration of the duty to indemnify was premature ( … see … Axis Surplus Ins. Co. v GTJ Co., Inc., 139 AD3d 604, 605 [1st Dept 2016] [“It is after the resolution of that action where the extent of plaintiff’s indemnification obligations can be fully determined”]). Harleysville Ins. Co. v United Fire Protection, Inc., 2024 NY Slip Op 02663, First Dept 5-14-24
Practice Point: An insurer’s obligation to indemnify cannot be determined based on the allegations in the pleadings.