Home/New York Court of Appeals/Zurich-American Insurance v. Atlantic Mutual Insurance

Zurich-American Insurance v. Atlantic Mutual Insurance

539 N.E.2d 1098, 74 N.Y.2d 621, 541 N.Y.S.2d 970, 1989 N.Y. LEXIS 465
New York Court of Appeals·Decided May 2, 1989·Published·Cited by 24 cases

Opinion

[623] OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed, with costs.

We agree with the majority at the Appellate Division that, because Atlantic’s policies extended coverage to employees of the church, the allegations in the complaints that injuries were caused by the putative individual insureds while acting in the church’s employ triggered Atlantic’s obligation to defend (see, Seaboard Sur. Co. v Gillette Co., 64 NY2d 304, 310). As the court noted, the answers of those individuals, denying that they were church employees, merely posed factual and legal issues to be resolved in the underlying actions.

Chief Judge Wachtler and Judges Simons, Alexander, Titone, Hancock, Jr., and Bellacosa concur; Judge Kaye taking no part.

Order affirmed, with costs, in a memorandum.

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Zurich-American Insurance v. Atlantic Mutual Insurance, 539 N.E.2d 1098, 74 N.Y.2d 621, 541 N.Y.S.2d 970, 1989 N.Y. LEXIS 465 (N.Y. 1989).

539 N.E.2d 1098 (Zurich-American Insurance v. Atlantic Mutual Insurance) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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