Allstate Insurance Company, etc., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AG (2008)

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York.

ACE PROPERTY & CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, et al., Plaintiffs, Allstate Insurance Company, etc., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. FEDERAL-MOGUL CORPORATION, et al., Defendants-Respondents, Cooper Industries LLC, et al., Defendants, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty AG, etc., et al., Defendants-Appellants.

Decided: October 30, 2008

LIPPMAN, P.J., MAZZARELLI, WILLIAMS, BUCKLEY, RENWICK, JJ.

White & Williams LLP, New York City (Rafael Vergara of counsel), and Margolis Edelstein, Philadelphia, PA (Elit R. Felix, II of counsel), for Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty AG (as successor-by-partial merger to Allianz Versicherungs AG), Allianz Global Risks U.S. Insurance Company (formerly known as Allianz Insurance Company) and Allianz Underwriters Insurance Company (formerly known as Allianz Underwriters, Inc.), defendants-appellants. Cuyler Burk PC, New York City (Stefano Calogero, Andrew K. Craig of counsel), for Allstate Insurance Company, solely as successor-in-interest to Northbrook Excess & Surplus Insurance Company, formerly known as Northbrook Insurance Company, plaintiff-appellant. Rubin, Fiorella & Friedman LLP, New York City (Bruce M. Friedman of counsel), for American Re-Insurance Company (now known as Munich Reinsurance America, Inc.) and Executive Risk Indemnity, Inc. (formerly known as American Excess Insurance Company), defendants-appellants. Colliau, Elenius, Murphy, Carluccio, Keener & Morrow, New York City (Dean Vigliano of counsel), for Columbia Casualty Company, Continental Casualty Company, and Continental Insurance Company (for itself and as successor-in-interest to Harbor Insurance Company), defendants-appellants. Traub, Lieberman, Straus & Shrewsberry LLP, Hawthorne, NY (Robert P. Siegel of counsel), for Evanston Insurance Company and Associated International Insurance Company, defendants-appellants. Mendes & Mount LLP, New York City (Robert J. Keane, Robert J. Flannery, Gerard C. Morici of counsel), for Westport Insurance Corporation and Employers Reinsurance Corporation, defendants-appellants. Rivkin Radler LLP, Uniondale, NY (Gary D. Centola, Lawrence Levy, Karin McCarthy of counsel), for Fireman's Fund Insurance Company and National Surety Corporation, defendants-appellants. Gilbert Randolph LLP, Washington, DC (Stephen A. Weisbrod of counsel), and Kostelanetz & Fink LLP, New York City (Caroline Rule, Brian C. Wille of counsel), for Federal-Mogul Corp. and Federal-Mogul Products, Inc., defendants-respondents. Dickstein Shapiro LLP, New York City (Richard Fields, Andrew N. Bourne, Ryan Donohue of counsel), and Los Angeles, CA (Clyde Hettrick of counsel), for Magnetek, Inc., defendant-respondent. Jones Day, New York City (Steven Bennett, J. Michael Ginsberg of counsel), for Cooper Industries, LLC, defendant. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, New York City (Michael J. Balch of counsel), for North Star Reinsurance Corporation, defendant. Crowell & Moring, LLP, New York City (Gary Stahl, Mark Plevin, David Florin, Barry Parsons, Margot Green of counsel), for ACE Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Central National Insurance Company of Omaha, Century Indemnity Company, Insurance Company of North America, Pacific Employers Insurance Company, St. Paul Mercury Insurance Company, U.S. Fire Insurance Company, OneBeacon America Insurance Company, Seaton Insurance Company, Stonewall Insurance Company and TIG Insurance Company (solely as successor to International Insurance Company), plaintiffs. Bingham McCutchen LLP, New York City (Stuart Rosen, Michael D'Agostino, Joshua Dorchak of counsel), for Travelers Casualty & Surety Company (formerly known as Aetna Casualty & Surety Company), plaintiffs. Mendes & Mount LLP, New York City (Robert Keane, Anna Newsom, Thomas Quinn, of counsel), for Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, London, Certain London Market Companies, INSCO, Ltd. and Providence Washington Insurance Company, defendants. Andrew Epting, Jr., LLC, Charleston, SC (Andrew Epting, Jr. of counsel), and Wellinghorst & Fronzuto, Suffern, NY (Lori Anne Fee of counsel), for Safety National Casualty Company, defendant. Clausen Miller PC, Chicago, IL (Linda Weaver of counsel), for Yosemite Insurance Company, defendant. Cozen O'Connor, New York City (James Dolan, Thomas Wilkinson, Edward Hayum, Sean Bellew, Nancy Portney, Jacob Cohn, Kellyn Muller of counsel), for AIG Casualty Company (formerly known as Birmingham Fire Insurance Company of Pennsylvania), AIU Insurance Company, American Home Assurance Company, Granite State Insurance Company, The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, Lexington Insurance Company, National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA, Atlanta International Insurance Company (formerly known as Drake Insurance Company of New York), Federal Insurance Company, Everest Reinsurance Company (formerly known as Prudential Reinsurance Company), and Mt. McKinley Insurance Company (formerly known as Gibraltar Casualty Company), defendants. Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti LLP, Morristown, NJ (Mary Ellen Scalera, David Niles of counsel), for Compagnie Europeenne D'Assurances Industrielles, defendant. Willman & Arnold LLP, Pittsburgh, PA (James Young, Kevin Ward, Sashi Segu of counsel), for Employers Mutual Casualty Company and Highlands Insurance Company, defendants. Morrison Mahoney LLP, New York City (Aarti Soni, Arthur Liederman of counsel), for European Reinsurance Company of Zurich (formerly known as European General Reinsurance Company of Zurich) and Swiss Reinsurance Company, defendants. Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker LLP, New York City (Carl Pernicone, Catherine Chen of counsel), for Royal Indemnity Company. Meckler, Bulger & Tilson, Chicago, IL (Phillip King, John Daly of counsel), and Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker LLP, White Plains, NY (Mark Ledwin of counsel), for Zurich Insurance Company (Switzerland) and Zurich International (Bermuda) Ltd., defendants. Smith, Stratton, Wise, Heher & Brennan LLP, New York City (Omar-John Chavez, Wendy Mager of counsel), for Employers Mutual Casualty Company by its managing general agent & attorney-in-fact for Mutual Marine Office, Inc. and Arkwright Insurance Company (formerly known as Arkwright-Boston Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Company), defendants. Hardin, Kundla, McKeon, Poletto & Polifroni, Springfield, NJ (Arthur Povelones of counsel), for Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company, defendant. Hogan & Hartson, New York City (Stacy Armillei, James Ruggeri, Edward Parks, William Bowman, Katherine Hance, Ann Ungvarsky of counsel), for Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, Hartford Casualty Insurance Company, First State Insurance Company and New England Insurance Company, defendants.