Travelers Indemnity Co. v. Northrop Grumman Corp.

956 F. Supp. 2d 494, 2013 WL 3388235, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94612
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJuly 3, 2013
DocketNo. 12 Civ. 3040(KBF)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 956 F. Supp. 2d 494 (Travelers Indemnity Co. v. Northrop Grumman Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Travelers Indemnity Co. v. Northrop Grumman Corp., 956 F. Supp. 2d 494, 2013 WL 3388235, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94612 (S.D.N.Y. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION & ORDER

KATHERINE B. FORREST, District Judge:

Travelers1 brought this action against Northrop Grumman2 seeking (1) .declarations that certain insurance policies require it neither to indemnify nor to defend Northrop Grumman against certain claims and (2) money damages for certain defense costs already incurred.3 Travelers also named Century4 as a nominal defendant.

Travelers filed the action in New York State Court on March 15, 2012. Northrop Grumman timely removed it to this Court on April 17, 2012. (Notice of Removal, ECF No. 1.) On June 8, 2012, Northrop Grumman answered and asserted counterclaims and crossclaims against both Travelers and Century for declaratory relief and money damages in connection with the insurers’ alleged duties to defend and indemnify. (Answer, Counterclaim, & Crossclaim, ECF No. 11.)

Both Travelers and Century issued Northrop Grumman (or, more particularly, its predecessors) a number of general liability policies, catastrophe umbrella policies (“CUPs”), and excess liability policies. (See Compl. Ex. A, ECF No. 1 (schedule of Travelers’ policies); Answer, Counterclaim, & Crossclaim Ex. A, ECF No. 11 (schedule of policies).) At issue in this lawsuit are policies Travelers issued over the period from 1968-1989, and that INA and IINA, predecessor companies to Century, issued over the period from 1951-1968. (Compl. ¶ 19, Ex. A, ECF No. 1; Answer, Counterclaim, & Crossclaim 32, Ex. A, ECF No. 11.)

Northrop Grumman has been and remains subject to a number of claims and clean-up costs relating to sites across the east coast for environmental pollution that may have occurred during the years encompassed by the Travelers and Century policies. Pursuant to a reservation of rights, Travelers has paid certain defense costs in connection with these claims.

Northrop Grumman has sought coverage and defense costs relating to claims with respect to eighteen separate sites. (Answer, Counterclaim, & Crossclaim 33-34, ECF No. 11.) The Court bifurcated [497]*497trial and discovery into two phases, by site. (July 26, 2012, Order, ECF No. 28; Dec. 10, 2012, Order, ECF No. 49.) The first phase (and the phase at issue here) includes the sites at (1) Aqua N.Y. Water District in Merrick, New York; (2) Beth-page Facility, (3) Bethpage Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant (“NWIRP”), (4) Bethpage Community Park, and (5) Bethpage Water District in Bethpage, New York; (6) Calverton NWIRP in Calverton, New York; (7) Massapequa Water District in Massapequa, New York; and (8) South Farmingdale Water District in South Farmingdale, New York. (July 26, 2012, Order, ECF No. 28; Dec. 10, 2012, Order, ECF No. 49.) Discovery has proceeded with respect to the Phase 1 sites, and a Phase 1 jury trial is scheduled for January 8, 2014.

Before the Court are two motions for partial summary judgment: (1) Travelers’ motion for a declaration that fourteen policies in effect from 1972 to 1983 must.be read to include a pollution exclusion codified in New York Insurance Law during that period (Travelers Mot. Partial Summ. J. 1, ECF No. 65);5 and (2) Northrop Grumman’s motion relating to Travelers’ and Century’s duty to defend against an action brought by the Town of Oyster Bay (Northrop Grumman Mot. Partial Summ. J., ECF No. 60).

For the reasons set forth below, the Court grants in part and denies in part Travelers’ motion, and grants in part and denies in part Northrop Grumman’s motion.

I. FACTS RELEVANT TO THE MOTIONS

The following facts are undisputed unless otherwise noted.

Over the course of more than six decades, Northrop Grumman operated naval aircraft manufacturing and testing facilities in Bethpage and Calverton, New York. (See Northrop Grumman’s Resp. Travelers’ Local Rule 56.1 Statement Supp. Mot. Partial Summ. J. ¶ 4, ECF No. 87 (“DCSOF”).)

A. The Sites

1. The Bethpage Facility Site

The parties (and the Court) refer to a large6 tract of land located in Bethpage, New York, as the “Bethpage Facility.” (Id. ¶ 5.) Starting in the 1930s, Grumman developed and manufactured, among other things, naval aircraft and amphibious craft at the site. (Id. ¶¶ 5-6.) The Bethpage Facility was added to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“NYSDEC”) Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Sites in the 1980s. (Answer, Counterclaim, & Crossclaim ¶ 50, ECF No. 11.)

2. The Bethpage NWIRP Site

Within the Bethpage Facility Site was an approximately 105-acre tract of land referred to as the Bethpage NWIRP. (DCSOF ¶ 8.) The Bethpage NWIRP site was established in the. 1930s or 1940s7 and [498]*498was owned by the United States Navy, but operated by Grumman. (Northrop Grumman Resp. Travelers’ Local Rule 56.1 Counterstatement Opp’n Northrop Grumman’s Mot. Partial Summ. J. ¶ 4, ECF No. 111 (“Defs.’ Reply SOF”).) Travelers cites to (disputed) record material suggesting that this site was used for research, prototyping, testing, desigp engineering, fabrication, .and primary assembly of military aircraft. (Id. ¶ 5.)

3. The Bethpage Community Park Site

The Bethpage Community Park -is a smaller (somewhere between twelve and eighteen acres) tract of land located within the larger Bethpage Facility Site. (Id. ¶ 7.) The Park sits on what used to be “sludge drying beds,” where Grumman placed wastewater treatment sludge generated from its plants. (See Feb. 1, 2013, Pashler Decl. Ex. 17, at NGINS000007369-70, ECF No. 88.) The parcel was donated to the Town of Oyster Bay in October 1962. (Id.)

4. The Calverton NWIRP Site

The Calverton NWIRP originally consisted of an approximately 6,000-acre tract of land in Suffolk County, Long Island. (DCSOF ¶ 24.) This site was owned by the Navy but operated by Grumman. (Id. ¶ 23.) Grumman ceased operating the Calverton NWIRP site in 1996. (Id. ¶ 26.)

B. Various Suits and Claims

In the 1980s, the Bethpage Facility was added to the NYSDEC Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Sites. (Answer, Counterclaim, & Crossclaim ¶ 50, ECF No. 11.) A number of entities have conducted investigations into and/or brought claims against Northrop Grumman, alleging that it is liable for cleanup costs and other costs associated with groundwater contamination and environmental property damage at the Bethpage Facility and the Bethpage NWIRP. Northrop Grumman has paid for certain remedial measures including the installation of a groundwater extraction and treatment system to abate contamination of public water supplies, and it continues to.undertake testing and sampling of groundwater.

On April 21, 2005, the Town of Oyster Bay filed a lawsuit against Northrop Grumman for pollution at the Bethpage Community Park (“TOB Action”). (PCSOF ¶ 17.) It is this action for which Northrop Grumman now seeks litigation coverage from Travelers and Century.

Northrop Grumman faces three additional potential actions. First, the Navy has asserted a claim against Northrop Grumman in connection with the Bethpage NWIRP Facility.

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956 F. Supp. 2d 494, 2013 WL 3388235, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94612, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/travelers-indemnity-co-v-northrop-grumman-corp-nysd-2013.