Clausen Miller Prevails in New Jersey Appellate Division Coverage Action
The New Jersey Appellate Division recently held that an umbrella insurer had no duty to step down to cover a primary layer sublimit that was substantially below the primary policy’s occurrence limit that would otherwise apply. Rivera v. Starstone Specialty Insurance Co., No. A-2345-21, 2024 N.J. Super. Unpub. Lexis 523 (N.J. App. April 1, 2024).
The underlying case involved an altercation on the premises of the insured, a local bar, in which the claimant’s deceased was injured and eventually died. The insured’s primary liability policy had a $1 million occurrence limit, subject, however, to a $50,000 occurrence sublimit for assault and battery claims. The umbrella policy issued by Starstone applied in excess of the “applicable underlying limit,” a defined term that referred to the underlying policy’s declarations page. That page did not list the sublimit, but only the $1 million occurrence limit. The insured and claimant nonetheless argued that the Starstone policy should apply in excess of the sublimit. The appellate court agreed with the trial court that it should not, and affirmed the judgment in favor of Starstone. Starstone was represented by Thomas Jacobson of Clausen Miller’s New Jersey office at the trial court level. Don Sampen of Clausen Miller’s Appellate & Trial Monitoring Practice Group defended the appeal.