Navigating Contractual Indemnification And Other Insurance Issues

Carl Pernicone (Partner-White Plains) and James Siewert (Associate-Stamford) penned a column titled "Navigating Contractual Indemnification and Other Insurance Issues" in the May 5, 2016, issue of the Westchester County Business Journal. "In New York," explains Carl and Jim, "the courts will cancel out comparable excess other insurance clauses and deem multiple policies 'co-primary.' At that, point, the court will look to the 'method of sharing' language to make a determination about how the insurers will split the cost of defense and loss." Many small businesses will not have the risk-management resources necessary to compare all its insurance policies with all its contracts to determine where the "other insurance" language and indemnification provisions might conflict. Where possible, however, Carl and Jim encourage businesses to consider this "ounce-of-prevention" approach.