HASKELL PROPERTIES, LLC VS. THE AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY(L-5396-13, BERGEN COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)

• Court: New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
• Decided: June 29, 2017
• Docket: A-1452-14T2
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-1452-14T2

HASKELL PROPERTIES, LLC,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

THE AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY, ST. PAUL FIRE & MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY, FIRST STATE INSURANCE COMPANY, GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK f/k/a AMERICAN NATIONAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, and FIREMAN'S FUND INSURANCE COMPANY,

Defendants-Respondents. ________________________________________________________________

Argued February 2, 2016 – Decided August 4, 2016 Remanded by Supreme Court May 19, 2017 Resubmitted June 14, 2017 – Decided June 29, 2017

Before Judges Espinosa, Rothstadt, and Currier.

On appeal from Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Bergen County, Docket No. L- 5396-13.

Eric E. Tomaszewski argued the cause for appellant (Golub Isabel & Cervino, P.C., attorneys; Mr. Tomaszewski, of counsel; Joseph A. Ferriero, on the briefs).

John Maloney argued the cause for respondent St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company (Graham Curtin, PA, attorneys; Mr. Maloney and Stephen V. Gimigliano, on the brief). Michael E. Buckley argued the cause for respondents The American Insurance Company and Fireman's Fund Insurance Company (Rivkin Radler LLP, attorneys, join in the brief of respondent St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company).

Evan S. Neadel argued the cause for respondent First State Insurance Company (Becker Meisel, LLC, Wayne S. Karbal (Karbal, Cohen, Economou, Silk & Dunne, LLC), of the Illinois bar, admitted pro hac vice, and Gerald E. Ziebell (Karbal, Cohen, Economou, Silk & Dunne, LLC), of the Illinois bar, admitted pro hac vice, attorneys, join in the brief of respondent St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company).

Christopher P. Ferragamo (Jackson & Campbell, P.C.) of the District of Columbia bar, admitted pro hac vice, argued the cause for respondent Great American Insurance Company f/k/a American National Fire Insurance Company (DiFrancesco, Bateman, Coley, Yospin, Kunzman, Davis, Lehrer & Flaum, P.C., and Mr. Ferragamo, attorneys, join in the brief of respondent St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company).

PER CURIAM

As directed by the Supreme Court in its summary remand

order of May 19, 2017, we have reviewed our earlier unreported

decision in this matter, Haskell Properties, LLC v. The American

Insurance Company, Docket No. A-1452-14 (App. Div. August 4,

2016), in light of the Court's decision in Givaudan Fragrances

Corporation v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Company, 227 N.J. 322

(2017).

2 A-1452-14T2 In our earlier opinion, we relied upon the principles

enunciated by this court in Givaudan Fragrances Corporation v.

Aetna Casualty & Surety Company, 442 N.J. Super. 28 (App. Div.

2015), in holding plaintiff's complaint in this matter

sufficiently stated a cause of action against defendants that

refused "to provide coverage for losses originating from

occurrences that predated" the assignment in this action as set

forth in the subject asset purchase agreement. Haskell

Properties, LLC, supra, slip op. at 19. Those principles were

affirmed by the Court in Givaudan Fragrance Corporation, supra,

227 N.J. at 327 (holding "once an insured loss has occurred, an

anti-assignment clause in an occurrence policy may not provide a

basis for an insurer's declination of coverage based on the

insured's assignment of the right to invoke policy coverage for

that loss").

Accordingly, we are satisfied our application of those

principles is entirely consistent with the Supreme Court's

decision. We do not discern a reason to alter our original

opinion.

Affirmed in part; reversed and remanded in part. We do not

retain jurisdiction.

3 A-1452-14T2