News & Events

On September 17^th, Judge Lorna G. Schofield of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York awarded summary judgment to Firm client Travelers in a dispute concerning Northrop Grumman’s claims for insurance coverage for a bodily injury purported class action and a natural resource damage claim by the State of New York. The claims stem from contamination generated by Northrop Grumman’s historical operations at its Bethpage, New York facility. Judge Schofield concluded that Northrop Grumman was collaterally estopped from obtaining coverage from Travelers as a result of pollution exclusions in Travelers insurance policies, given that the issues had been addressed in an earlier case between the parties. 

The Firm previously obtained six back-to-back summary judgment rulings establishing that Travelers had no obligation to provide coverage to Northrop Grumman for other claims arising from this contamination. After these successes, a second lawsuit was filed in the SDNY relating to additional bodily injury and pollution claims for which Northrop Grumman sought coverage. In September 2019, the Firm won partial summary judgment under 29 policies based on late notice for claims filed by individuals who alleged bodily injury and property damage claims.

The Simpson Thacher team includes Mary Beth Forshaw, Lynn Neuner, Summer Craig, Robert Arnay and Jonathan Kaplan.