Law360 quoted Haynes and Boone, LLP Partner Micah Skidmore on the pending Texas Supreme Court case involving whether Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has insurance coverage of its $100 million defense bill in the Deepwater Horizon litigation.
Here is an excerpt:
Anadarko has also argued that the appellate panel failed to give appropriate weight to the fact that the company and the Lloyd's underwriters mutually agreed to delete a provision from the energy policy, "Condition 3," that would have proportionately reduced how much the underwriters must pay for defense costs when their liability for third-party damages claims is reduced.
Haynes and Boone, LLP Partner Micah Skidmore, who represents policyholders, said the underwriters are downplaying the significance of Condition 3's removal. The deletion of that condition, coupled with the language and structure of the JV provision, supports Anadarko's stance that only payments on third-party claims are subject to the $37.5 million cap, he said.
"It appears the Court of Appeals got hung up on the word 'liability' and lost sight with what the parties' intent was for the JV provision," he said.
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