Olin Corp. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's

350 F. Supp. 3d 288
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedNovember 24, 2018
Docket18-cv-8197 (JSR)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 350 F. Supp. 3d 288 (Olin Corp. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Olin Corp. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, 350 F. Supp. 3d 288 (S.D. Ill. 2018).

Opinion

JED S. RAKOFF, U.S.D.J.

This is the latest chapter in the saga of Olin Corporation and its insurers. Over the past several decades, Olin has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to remediate environmental damage at numerous sites across North America. During the same period, Olin has sought coverage from a host of insurers under policies of general and excess liability insurance, giving rise to a variety of disputes, the great majority of which have now been resolved. In this latest action, Olin seeks coverage from defendants Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, London and London Market Insurance Companies (together, "London"), for expenditures incurred at an Olin-owned manufacturing facility in Morgan Hill, California. ECF No. 12. London has now moved for summary judgment, and Olin has moved for partial summary judgment. The dispositive issue is whether Olin can hold London jointly and severally liable for all expenditures incurred at Morgan Hill, or whether Olin can recover only the pro rata amount of expenditures allocated to each London policy period. ECF Nos. 14, 18. For the reasons stated below, London's motion is granted, and Olin's motion is denied. Furthermore, because Olin's damages do not reach the attachment points of London's policies when allocated on a pro rata basis, Olin's complaint is dismissed with prejudice.

Background

"The background of this interminable litigation has been recounted in countless orders, memoranda, and opinions issued over the past several decades, familiarity with all of which is here, of course, presumed." Olin Corp. v. Lamorak Ins. Co., No. 84-cv-1968 (JSR), 332 F.Supp.3d 818, 829, 2018 WL 3442955, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. July 17, 2018).1 However, the following facts, undisputed except where otherwise *290indicated, are of particular relevance to the motions here before the Court:

From 1956 until at least 1996, Olin operated a manufacturing facility in Morgan Hill, California. Olin Corporation's Memorandum of Law in Support of Its Motion for Partial Summary Judgment to Enforce London's Insurance Policies and the Settlement Agreement Which "Shall Apply as Written" 6 ("Olin SJ Mem."), ECF No. 19. Olin's operations at the Morgan Hill site caused property damage, which Olin has spent millions of dollars remediating. Id.

During the same period that Olin was conducting operations at Morgan Hill, London issued excess insurance policies to Olin that indemnified Olin for certain losses associated with third-party property damage. At issue in the instant litigation are excess insurance policies that cover periods between 1953 and 1970. Unredacted Complaint Ex. A ("Compl."), ECF No. 12. Some, but not all, of these policies contain the following provision, referred to as "Condition C":

It is agreed that if any loss covered hereunder is also covered in whole or in part under any other excess Policy issued to the Assured prior to the inception date hereof the limit of liability hereon ... shall be reduced by any amounts due to the Assured on account of such loss under such prior insurance.
Subject to the foregoing paragraph and to all the other terms and conditions of this Policy in the event that personal injury or property damage arising out of an occurrence covered hereunder is continuing at the time of termination of this Policy [London] will continue to protect the Assured for liability in respect of such personal injury or property damage without payment of additional premium.

E.g., ECF No. 21, Ex. 2, at 5.

In assessing this provision, it must be remembered that one of the central issues in Olin's litigation with its various insurers has been the appropriate method for allocating liability for property damage that is ongoing and progressive over a number of years. The Second Circuit first addressed this issue in Olin Corp. v. Insurance Co. of North America ("Olin I"), 221 F.3d 307 (2d Cir. 2000), in which it considered whether Olin's policies with one of its general liability insurers contemplated a "joint and several liability" (or "all sums") approach, or an "allocation" (or "pro rata") approach. Under the former approach - which Olin argued was mandated by certain language in its policies - each policy would be liable up to its limits for the entirety of progressive property damage, as long as some property damage took place during the period covered by the policy. Id. at 322. Under the latter approach, each policy would be liable only for the property damage attributable to the period covered by the policy. Id.

After reasoning that allocation was preferable from a policy perspective and was "at least consistent with" the admittedly "inconclusive" policy language, the Olin I court decided that "allocation was the proper method to use to determine liability under the policies." Id. at 324-35. The court also held that, in the absence of evidence about the amount of property damage that occurred during each policy period, it was appropriate to allocate equal amounts based on the time that each policy period covered. Id. at 325.

Two years later, in Consolidated Edison Co. of New York v. Allstate Insurance Co., 98 N.Y.2d 208, 746 N.Y.S.2d 622, 774 N.E.2d 687 (2002), the New York Court of Appeals considered a similar policy2 and *291held, as the Olin I court had, that "[p]ro rata allocation ..., while not explicitly mandated by the policies, is consistent with the language of the policies," id.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
350 F. Supp. 3d 288, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/olin-corp-v-certain-underwriters-at-lloyds-ilsd-2018.