Bridgefield Casualty Insurance Company v. The Cincinnati Insurance Company
After a workers' compensation insurer (Bridgefield) settled a Coblentz-based breach-of-contract claim brought against it by an injured subcontractor employee standing in the shoes of the mutual insured general contractor, it sued the CGL carrier (Cincinnati) for equitable subrogation and equitable contribution. The court granted Cincinnati summary judgment, holding that Bridgefield's settlement payment discharged its own debt for its breach of the duty to defend/indemnify, so no subrogation or 'common obligation' contribution lay, and alternatively that none of Cincinnati's policies (umbrella, auto, CGL) afforded coverage.
Key facts
- Bridgefield Casualty Insurance Company, a workers' compensation insurer, settled a breach-of-contract claim brought by an injured subcontractor employee against Bridgefield for failure to defend and indemnify the mutual insured general contractor.
- Bridgefield then sued co-insurer Cincinnati Insurance Company seeking equitable subrogation and equitable contribution for the settlement payment, asserting coverage should have been provided by Cincinnati's umbrella, auto, and commercial general liability policies.
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Why it matters
Useful to coverage counsel litigating inter-insurer disputes arising from Coblentz agreements: the court draws a sharp line between paying an insured's underlying tort liability (subrogable) and paying to settle one's… — full analysis with a trial
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