Monday, December 28, 2020
The Fifth Circuit recently rebuffed an attempt by Chubb subsidiary Ace American Insurance Co. (“Ace”) to evade liability from its excess insurer, Zurich North America subsidiary American Guarantee & Liability Insurance Co. (“AGLIC”), after Ace unreasonably rejected a settlement offer within its policy limits in violation of its
Stowers duty.
In the underlying lawsuit, Mark Braswell was killed after his road bike collided with a stopped truck, owned by the Brickman Group Ltd., L.L.C (the “Brickman Group”).
Id. at 1. His survivors (his mother, wife, and two children (the “Braswells”)) filed suit against the Brickman Group, who was insured under a primary policy issued by Ace and an excess policy issued by AGLIC. After trial and before the jury reached a verdict, the Braswells’ counsel made two settlement demands.
Social Inflation Lesson: Not Settling Cost Insurer Millions in Suit by Excess Insurer
The defense team for Chubb Group’s Ace American Insurance Co. was confident that no jury would award more than $2 million in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Mark Braswell, who died on May 16, 2014 when his bicycle collided with a trailer behind a parked landscaping truck.
After all, there was some evidence that the truck owned by the Brickman Group was legally parked along the road. Also, Braswell’s helmet was cracked down the middle and the injury was to the top of his head, indicating he had his head down at the time of the accident and wasn’t looking where he was going.
Refusal to Settle for $2M Costs Ace Nearly $8M in Suit by Excess Insurer
The defense team for Chubb Group’s Ace American Insurance Co. was confident that no jury would award more than $2 million in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Mark Braswell, who died on May 16, 2014 when his bicycle collided with a trailer behind a parked landscaping truck.
After all, there was some evidence that the truck owned by the Brickman Group was legally parked along the road. Also, Braswell’s helmet was cracked down the middle and the injury was to the top of his head, indicating he had his head down at the time of the accident and wasn’t looking where he was going.
New York developer completes $14.5M purchase of Commerce Building in downtown Worcester
The nine-story, 380,000-square-foot building is known as the downtown’s first office skyscraper.
SilverBrick Group LLC purchased the 340 Main St. building from Commerce Associates, which also owns properties at 332 Main St. (Central Building), 244 Main St. (Irish Times building), 18 Chestnut St. (former Unum building) and several surface parking lots. The transaction was recorded at the Registry of Deeds last month.
SilverBrick Group is looking to invest $54.45 million to create the market-rate housing over two phases, with commercial uses on the first floor. The apartments will be 80 studios, 183 one-bedroom units, 39 two-bedroom units and 10 three-bedroom units.