Continental Casualty Co. v. The Valspar Corp., No. 15-1547 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseNational Union was ordered to pay part of the costs Continental incurred to defend Valspar against several lawsuits. Valspar intervened and now appeals. The court concluded that National Union had a duty to defend Valspar and therefore has an equitable obligation to contribute to paying the costs of the defense. Neither Valspar’s agreement to pay National Union’s costs, Continental’s agreement not to recover defense costs from Valspar, nor Continental’s alleged failure to pay a small fraction of the costs defeats Continental’s right to contribution from National Union. These are distinct obligations. And National Union’s share of the defense costs paid by the insurers is unaffected by amounts paid by Valspar. Accordingly, the court affirmed and remanded for further proceedings.
Court Description: Riley, Author, with Smith and Shepherd, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Insurance. The district court did not err in determining defendant National Union had a duty to defend Valspar in claims arising out of the presence of benzene in the company's products and that it had an equitable obligation to pay the costs of the defense; neither Valspar's agreement to pay National Union's costs, Continental's agreement not to recover defense costs from Valspar, nor Continental's alleged failure to pay a small fraction of the costs defeats Continental's right to contribution from National Union.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.