March 2008

Connecticut Supreme Court rules that common cause provision of reinsurance treaty is ambiguous with respect to the aggregation of claims 

In a recent decision, Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co. v Ace American Reinsurance Co., 266 Conn. 744, 934 A.2d 224 (Conn. 2007), the Connecticut Supreme Court considered the proper construction of the phrase “any one accident” as used reinsurance contracts between the plaintiffs, Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company and several of its affiliates (the Hartford), and the defendants, various reinsurers (the Reinsurers). The Supreme Court found a common cause provision in the contracts to be ambiguous for purposes of whether multiple asbestos claims could be aggregated as a single occurrence, and reversed the lower court’s decision granting summary judgment to Reinsurers.

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