Business & Insurance Litigation Newsletter for Indiana

Insured May Seek Indemnity From Policy of Choice

Often times, when an incident occurs that is covered by an insurance policy, coverage is triggered under more than one insurance policy. Such may be the result of a party being an additional insured on another party's policy endorsement or from procurement of multiple policies. When more than one policy is triggered, the insured party may be able to select which insurer shall bear the burden of paying for the loss, to the exclusion of the other insurers. Where an insured party was seeking indemnification from a specific insurer for environmental contamination, the Indiana Supreme Court allowed the insured to, "elect and seek indemnity from any or all of the policies at risk as to any single occurrence." Allstate Ins. Co. v. Dana Corp., 759 N.E.2d 1049, 1061 (Ind. 2001).