Subrogation Group's Success Continues In New Jersey
November 19, 2009
A fire ensued within a strip mall in Linwood, New Jersey. Clausen Miller's clients (the insurers) insured several retail spaces within the mall. Clausen Miller Partner Robert A. Stern (New York/New Jersey) was retained to pursue the clients' subrogation rights. Origin and cause, and electrical experts were retained.
The experts concluded that the fire originated within one of the other retail spaces in the strip mall, specifically in the area of heat gun used to shrink wrap gift baskets. The Local Officials concurred in this opinion.
Clausen Miller, with our clients' permission, filed suit against the Origin Tenant. During discovery, our electrical expert performed a destructive examination of the heat gun. The expert concluded that the heat gun was "on" at the time of the fire and was improperly left near combustibles (the fire occurred after hours). The Origin Tenant's expert provided opinions which contradicted all of our experts' opinions. For example, the Origin Tenant's expert opined that the heat gun was turned off at the end of the work day; also, the origin was below the work bench, not on the work bench near the heat gun. Thus, this matter was a battle of the experts.
Once discovery was completed, the Court ordered the case to Arbitration. The Judge presiding over the matter personally selected the Arbitrators who were familiar with subrogation fire cases. Mr. Stern and Clausen Miller Associate Virginia Markovich (New York) prepared the Arbitration briefs. Mrs. Markovich handled the Arbitration.
Mrs. Markovich presented our clients' case to the Arbitrators. She was extensively questioned, especially in light of the adversary's arguments which were diametrically opposed to our experts' positions. In the end, the Arbitrators unanimously ruled in our clients' favor and awarded our clients 100% of their damages. The Arbitrators stated that prior to the Arbitration, they were skeptical that the heat gun caused the fire. However, in light of Mrs. Markovich's presentation, the Arbitrators were now convinced that the fire originated and was caused as set forth by our experts.
If you would like to learn more about Subrogation and/or Arbitrations, please feel free to contact Robert A. Stern (rstern@clausen.com) or Virginia Markovich (vmarkovich@clausen.com), or call them at 212/805-3900.
