This is an insurance coverage case. It arose from thousands of claims against a company for bodily injury from exposure to welding products litigated over a 13-year period. While insurance covered some costs, a dispute arose over coverage claims when multiple insurers were involved. The manufacturer reached an agreement with its primary insurance company to cover a portion of its costs spread over a period of years, and it sued the umbrella insurance carrier to cover any costs above the threshold point for the umbrella coverage.
The NAM and other groups filed an amicus brief supporting the manufacturer's position. We argued that the "all sums" standard insurance policy language at issue here is common around the country and means that the policyholder has the exclusive right to select any policy of its choice to cover lengthy liabilities spanning multiple years and multiple insurance policies. The terms of a settlement agreement with the underlying primary insurance carrier should not affect this result.
Our brief warned the court of the drastic effects of a ruling the other way. The reasonable expectations of policyholders in many states would be violated, making it much more difficult to settle insurance claims and increasing exponentially the number of disputes that will need to be addressed by courts rather than by private parties through mutual agreement.
The case was settled without opinion.