Opinion ID: 183762
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Underlying Litigation & Procedural Background

Text: Stephen Custadio, a 53-year-old maintenance supervisor at the Fall River, Massachusetts facility of Roma Color, Inc., was working on a materials lift on November 20, 2003, when the lift jammed and then fell approximately two stories. Custadio was impaled through his eye by a metal pipe and died. In 2005, his widow sued European Colour PLC, of which Roma Color was a subsidiary, alleging negligence and wrongful death. European Colour eventually settled the claims against it for $2,750,000. Both Hartford and Federal defended European Colour during the Custadio litigation under the terms of two insurance policies. The Hartford commercial general liability policy limited coverage to $1,000,000 per occurrence. Federal issued Roma Color an excess follow-form policy, which also covered European Colour, and limited coverage to $5,000,000 per occurrence. In accordance with those policies, Hartford paid $1,000,000 toward the Custadio settlement and Federal paid $1,700,000. [2] Hartford also incurred legal fees of $293,188.63 in defending European Colour. In addition to the Hartford and Federal policies, European Colour was insured by CNA Europe. The CNA Europe policy provided coverage up to £2,000,000 per occurrence for liability in respect of personal injury ... happening anywhere within the United States of America ... arising out of business visits by directors or non-manual employees who ordinarily reside in the United Kingdom. While the Custadio litigation was pending, counsel for Hartford and Federal sought contribution from CNA Europe for both the costs of defending European Colour and any potential liability. CNA Europe refused to contribute. It maintained that its policy did not cover Mr. Custadio's accident because, while European Colour employees made numerous business visits to the United States, the accident did not aris[e] out of those visits.