Advertise
Resources
Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
NEW YORK—Exxon Mobil Corp. has filed suit against Lloyd's of London underwriters and other insurers in New York state court seeking to recover defense costs and payments resulting from asbestos claims.
The suit, filed Wednesday in the New York State Supreme Court, seeks coverage for thousands of asbestos-related claims brought against Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil; ExxonMobil Oil Corp.; Mobil Corp.; and the company's Vermont captive, Ancon Insurance Co. Inc.
The claims were brought under primary and excess general liability insurance policies sold by the defendant insurers. The case, Exxon Mobil Corp. vs. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, London, et al., names several hundred insurers.
Exxon acquired Mobil in 1999.
Alleged exposure to harmful materials
The suit alleges the claims arise from alleged exposure to materials containing asbestos at petrochemical facilities belonging to Exxon or Mobil or their predecessor companies over several decades as well as Mobil's manufacture and distribution of products containing asbestos from about 1963 to 1980.
While “claims by thousands of plaintiffs against ExxonMobil have been settled or otherwise disposed of, thousands more remain pending against ExxonMobil, and ExxonMobil expects many more to be filed in the future,” the energy company said in the suit
The suit asks the court to declare “the rights, duties and obligations of the parties under the insurance policies at issue with respect to the defendants' contractual obligations to pay ExxonMobil's defense costs and to indemnify ExxonMobil for all sums it has become obligated to pay through judgments, settlements or otherwise as a result of the underlying asbestos claims.”
A Lloyd's spokesman declined to comment on the suit.