N.Y. Judge Recommends Award of Attorneys’ Fees to Asbestos Defendant in Insurance Dispute

NEW YORK –– A U.S. Magistrate judge has recommended that a New York federal court award attorneys’ fees to a third party in an asbestos insurance dispute, opining that the company was put “in a defensive posture" by Travelers (NYSE:TRV).

In the Jan. 31 recommendation, U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York concluded that Atlas Copco North America was entitled to the fees its spent in attempting to prove that the insurance companies had a duty to defend.

Atlas Copco North America, a third party in the …