A Chubb excess and surplus lines insurance unit must defend a Southern California diocese against more than 200 clergy sexual abuse lawsuits after another insurer on the program went out of business, a federal court judge ruled.
In Westchester Fire Insurance Company v. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Orange, U.S. District Judge Monica Ramirez Almadani of the Central District of California ruled Monday that Westchester’s umbrella liability policies required it to drop down and provide a primary defense for the abuse claims after the primary insurer became insolvent.
Chubb and other insurers have fought vigorously with Catholic dioceses around the country over their obligations in abuse cases, most prominently in New York, where more than 1,500 claims are pending after a “reviver” law temporarily allowed survivors to sue over decades-old abuse…