Highest New York state court cites Professor Christopher French

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The New York Court of Appeals recently cited Penn State Law professor Christopher French in a decision that could have an important impact on New York insurance law.

In deciding In the Matter of Viking Pump, Inc. and Warren Pumps, LLC, Insurance Appeals, the highest court in New York cited French’s 2012 article in the Kansas Law Review titled “The ‘Non-Cumulation Clause’: an ‘Other Insurance Clause’ by Another Name.”

In the Viking Pump decision, the New York Court of Appeals for the first time recognized “all sums” allocations for certain insurance policies that include non-cumulation clauses, which is an important development that will likely make New York insurance law more consumer-friendly.

The Viking Pump decision means that policyholders making insurance claims for damage that occurs over long periods of time–such as for asbestos diseases or environmental contamination—can now select any policy year in which the damage occurred to recover for the losses in full if the policies contain non-cumulation clauses. Previously, such losses would only be allocated among the multiple triggered policy years on a pro rata basis.

This is the second time French’s scholarship on non-culmination clauses was cited by an appellate court. The same article was previously cited by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in deciding Olin Corporation v. American Home Assurance Company.

French’s work was also recently cited by the Supreme Courts of New Jersey and West Virginia on a different aspect of insurance law.