U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri grants judgment for Dowd Bennett client

On May 5, 2018, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri granted judgment in favor of a Dowd Bennett client in Zurich American Insurance Co. v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., et al, following a one day bench trial.  The plaintiff, an insurance company, had brought suit in equity against Dowd Bennett’s client, the insured brewer, to recover money paid by the insurance company in connection with a settlement of a lawsuit against its insured that involved a long-tail asbestos claim.  The court held that the insurance company’s liability to its insured was based on the insurance contract and that the insurance company therefore could not obtain equitable remedies from its insured that required the insured to pay a pro-rata allocation of the settlement.  Rather, the insured had the right to target a single policy year and have the policy for that year speak to the entire settlement amount.

Dowd Bennett lawyers Jim Bennett, Megan Heinsz, and Caitlin O’Connell represented the insured.