Crum & Forster wins ruling over Superstorm Sandy award
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A federal appeals court affirmed a lower court’s ruling in favor of a Crum & Forster Holdings Corp. unit, in a dispute over a Superstorm Sandy-related arbitration award in litigation filed by a real estate company.
Newington, Connecticut-based Loch View LLC owns several buildings in Willimantic, Connecticut, that were insured by C&F unit New York-based Seneca Insurance Co. Inc., according to Friday’s ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York in Loch View LLC v. Seneca Insurance Co. Inc.
Loch View sought coverage under its policy after the buildings sustained damage in October 2012’s Superstorm Sandy, the ruling said.
Loch View filed suit in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, alleging breach of contract among other claims after Seneca refused to pay the amount it thought it was owed under the policy, the ruling said. The court granted Seneca’s motion to compel arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act.
The parties each selected an arbitrator who in turn jointly appointed an umpire to settle matters on which the two arbitrators could not agree.
After the umpire awarded Loch View $284,438.43, the company asked the court to vacate the award arguing, among other issues, that it was untimely because it was rendered more than 30 days after receiving the arbitrators’ submissions.
The district denied the motion to vacate and confirmed the award, which Loch View appealed. A unanimous three-judge appeals court panel affirmed the lower court.
According to Loch View, the district court erred when it did not vacate the arbitration award as untimely under the “manifest disregard of the law” standard, the ruling said.
But the company “has failed to demonstrate a manifest disregard in this case,” it said, in affirming the lower court’s ruling.
Attorneys in the case had no comment or did not respond to a request for comment.
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