ERISA Litigation Spawns Ninth Circuit Decision in Case of First Impression Regarding Excess Insurance Coverage

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (the federal appellate court with jurisdiction over Washington and other western states) recently decided a novel question regarding so-called “excess” insurance coverage. Excess insurance exists where a person or entity has two layers of insurance: a “primary” insurer that provides coverage up to a specific dollar amount, and a second, “excess”, insurer that provides additional coverage above that amount. In its September 14, 2020 decision in AXIS Reinsurance Company v Northrop Grumman Corporation, the Ninth Circuit addressed the question whether an excess insurer can challenge the primary insurer’s decision to pay a claim and thereby trigger the excess insurer’s obligation to pay.

The dispute between AXIS and Northrop Grumman began with an ERISA lawsuit. The federal Department of Labor sued Northrop Grumman alleging Northrop acted improperly in handling its ERISA-governed employee savings and pension plans. Northrop paid a confidential amount to settle the DOL lawsuit. Northrop did not admit any wrongdoing, and the lawsuit never resulted in any findings about what specific allegations the settlement payment addressed.

A few months later, Northrop settled a second, unrelated, ERISA lawsuit brought on behalf of the Plan by a plaintiff named Grabek.

Northrop had insurance against these types of ERISA lawsuit through both primary and excess insurance carriers. Northrop’s primary insurer, National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA, and an initial excess insurer, Continental Casualty Company, provided coverage up to a total of $30 million. AXIS provided secondary excess coverage for losses over $30 million. In other words, AXIS only had to pay claims if Northrop’s loss exceeded the $30 million covered by the first two insurers.

The carriers covered Northrop’s settlement for the Department of Labor lawsuit. The primary insurer, National Union, and the first excess insurer, Continental, determined the DOL lawsuit was covered, and paid Northrop’s full loss out of their combined $30 million limit.

But Northrop ran into trouble getting coverage for the Grabek lawsuit. Having paid for the entire DOL settlement, National Union and Continental determined that all but about $7 million that Northrop had to pay in the Grabek lawsuit exceeded their combined $30 million coverage limits. Having exhausted its first layer of coverage, Northrop turned to its excess insurer AXIS to pay the remainder of the Grabek settlement.

AXIS refused to pay. It agreed there was coverage for the Grabek lawsuit, but it claimed that the first two insurers shouldn’t have paid the DOL settlement. AXIS claimed that the primary insurers’ policies excluded the DOL settlement. So, AXIS argued, since the first two carriers shouldn’t have paid for the DOL settlement, the first $30 million in coverage should never have been exhausted, and AXIS should never have been called upon to pay for the Grabek lawsuit. According to AXIS, this was an “improper erosion” of the initial $30 million in coverage. No federal appellate court had previously addressed AXIS’ “improper erosion” theory.

The Ninth Circuit disagreed. It determined that AXIS bore the risk that the primary insurers would exhaust their coverage limits by paying for losses that weren’t really covered. The court explained that excess insurers generally may not reduce their own obligation to pay a covered loss by claiming that the primary insurers shouldn’t have paid. The court emphasized that excess insurers generally have no right to second guess primary insurers’ coverage decisions. The excess insurer could avoid this outcome by including in their policy contracts a provision that improper payments by the primary insurers don’t count, but AXIS had no such language.