The New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to review an appeals ruling in favor of an industrial pump manufacturer that successfully sued its excess insurers for coverage of underlying asbestos claims under a $1.85 billion program, defeating the insurers’ quest to be released from paying the claims.
The high court on Wednesday denied a petition by the insurers to rehear its case against IMO Industries Inc., effectively holding a September New Jersey Appellate Division decision that excess insurers should not be allowed to revisit individual, settled claims where the defense has already been paid by the primary insurers.
Transamerica attorney Sherilyn Pastor of McCarter & English LLP, noted that her client had prevailed in suits lodged by IMO dating back to 2003, and the Appellate Division’s 2014 ruling upheld all judgments in Transamerica’s favor.
“This case was always about IMO Industries trying to foist its asbestos liabilities on its former parent, Transamerica Corp.,” she said. “We are thrilled that this decade-long saga for Transamerica Corp. is over, and that it has been completely vindicated, having prevailed on all claims against it by its co-insured and former subsidiary, IMO. We look forward to recovering the costs assessed against IMO and the excess insurers.”