LCBF wins early ruling that client entitled to indemnification

In Wallace v. Nat'l R.R. Pass. Corp., 2014 WL 1088906 (S.D.N.Y. March 18, 2014), the district court ruled that Amtrak was entitled to a declaration, prior to trial of the underlying personal injury claims, that its contractor, Weeks Marine, was contractually obligated both to pay Amtrak's defense costs and fees and to indemnify Amtrak against the personal injury claims of Weeks’ employee against Amtrak. The district court rejected Weeks' contention that, based on New York state law, these determinations had to await the trial and determination of the underlying claims. The district court also looked, in part, to insurance law principles in deciding that Amtrak had not been obligated to use the defense counsel retained by Weeks to represent Amtrak because Weeks' reservation of its rights not to indemnify Amtrak created a conflict of interest which entitled Amtrak to select its own defense counsel. The LCBF team was headed by Bill Ballaine and Ron Joseph.