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A division of Chubb Co. will have to reimburse the parent company of the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, for a substantial amount of its legal fees in two lawsuits stemming from the 2018 mass shooting at the newspaper, the Illinois newspaper says. A state federal judge ruled Tuesday.
said U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly. Tribune Publishing Co. LLC et al. v. Ace American Insurance Companythe insurance company said the Tribune could not escape its duty to defend itself because it hired its own lawyers.
The insurance company had also argued that it did not have to reimburse the Tribune and Baltimore Sun Company LLC because they did not cooperate with its proposed defense to the June 2021 Maryland court action.
The judge said there was no dispute that Ace had agreed to defend both companies, and that not repaying a portion of the legal fees constituted a breach of contract.
“While ACE disputes the reasonableness of plaintiff’s legal fees, it does not cite any authority suggesting that this justifies withholding plaintiff’s legal fees.” Any any payment,” the judge wrote.
In June 2018, a gunman shot and killed five employees and injured two others at the Tribune and the Capital Gazette, a subsidiary of the Baltimore Sun.
In addition to Ace’s workers’ compensation and employer’s liability insurance, both companies carried commercial general liability insurance, each providing $1 million in coverage, according to court records. The Tribune and the Baltimore Sun paid $900,000 in workers’ compensation in connection with the incident.
The shooting victims and their families filed two separate lawsuits in June 2021 alleging various torts. The plaintiffs said in their lawsuit that workers’ compensation monopoly laws do not apply to their claims because they are not employees of the Tribune or the Baltimore Sun. The lawsuit was later settled for an undisclosed amount, according to court records.
Ace initially agreed to defend the company under both workers’ compensation and general liability policies, but later reserved the right to challenge its duty to defend.
The Tribune and the Baltimore Sun filed suit in December 2022, accusing Ace of violating the policy.
A Chubb spokeswoman declined to comment on the ruling.
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