| |
| |
 |
| |
Boeing Wins Critical Insurance "Settlement
Allocation" Battle
March 20, 2002. The Superior Court for King
County (Judge Hall) today issued a Memorandum Opinion in favor of
Boeing regarding the burden on an insurance company in attempting
to force a policyholder to "allocate" past settlements to
the benefit of non-settling insurance companies. Gordon Murray Tilden
has represented Boeing in comprehensive insurance coverage actions
pending in Superior Court in Seattle (and state court in Kansas) since
1999. Global settlements have been accomplished between Boeing and
all of its carriers except two. Executive Risk and American Re-Insurance,
high level excess insurers, filed a motion for summary judgment on
the ground that Boeing had failed to "allocate" prior settlements
and, thus, that they should receive credit for such settlements. The
Washington court denied the motion, holding that the insurance company
should bear the burden of proving a double recovery where an insured
has entered into general or global settlements with other carriers
based, in part, on the public policy in Washington in favor of creating
incentives for settlement. Jim Murray argued the motion, assisted
by Christie Snyder on the briefing. |
