Equitas Ordered to Pay $7.2 Million in Reinsurance Proceeds for Dole Pollution Settlement

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has ordered Equitas Insurance Ltd. to pay $7,234,125 plus interest toward a cedent's settlement of pollution claims brought against Dole Food Co., ruling that the reinsurance certificates' follow-the-settlements provision obligated Equitas to pay any settlement that falls within the terms of the underlying policy.

In a July 16 opinion, Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held that the “all-sums” approach obligated Equitas to reimburse ICSOP for the $20 million settlement notwithstanding the three-year stated policy period of each of the certificates.

ICSOP …