Case Briefs

In Lexington Insurance Co. v. General Accident Insurance Co. of America, ___ F.3d ___; 2003 WL 21782276 (1st Cir. 2003), the First Circuit considered the obligation of an excess liability insurer to contribute to the cost of defending an underlying insured. The insured was a law firm that placed a professional responsibility insurance contract with the primary insurer with a $10 million limit of liability and also placed coverage with excess insurers for liability exceeding the $10 million primary layer. The insured was later implicated in a securities fraud suit and the primary insurer paid $5.5 million toward defense costs. The primary insurer then demanded that the excess insurers share pro rata in these defense costs. While the primary insurer reached an accord with most of the excess insurers, it was unable to reach agreement with the first excess layer insurer.