Tokio Marine wins ruling in employment practices liability case
Reprints
A federal appeals court affirmed a lower court ruling in favor of a Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. unit Tuesday and held that a claim under its claims-made employment practices liability insurance policy was filed too late.
A former girlfriend of the president of San Diego, California-based AV Builder Corp. and RestorCorp., who had served as RestorCorp.’s marketing director, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the companies and its president in state court, according to the ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in AV Builder Corp. v. Houston Casualty Co.
Tokio Marine unit Houston Casualty denied coverage under the companies’ EPL policy, on the basis the plaintiffs had filed their claim too late. They sued the insurer in U.S. District Court in San Diego for breach of contract and of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
The lower court granted summary judgment to HCC and was affirmed by a three-judge appeals court panel.
Plaintiffs received notice of the former employee’s claim “by at least” Aug. 14, 2018, or more than sixty days before their Oct. 15, 2018, notification to HCC, and it was therefore untimely, the panel said.
An attorney for AV Builder said he was disappointed by the decision. Tokio Marine’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
