Media Coverage
Source: Arkansas Business
Media Coverage
01.27.14
U.S. District Court Judge Aleta Trauger ruled that a lawsuit filed by National Union Fire Insurance Co. and a dozen other insurers against Lion Oil Co. in Tennessee will be stayed while Lion Oil’s case against the insurers in Arkansas can go forward.
Pillsbury is representing Lion Oil in an $80 million insurance coverage claim against the insurers. The rupture of a pipeline run by ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. in 2012 cut off Lion Oil’s El Dorado, Arkansas refinery from access to crude oil from the Gulf of Mexico for more than seven months. Lion Oil suffered financial losses due to lost earnings and spill-related expenses.
The insurers filed a suit in Tennessee a seeking a declaratory judgment that they were not required to cover Lion’s business-interruption losses. Lion Oil later sued the insurers arguing that the case belonged in Arkansas where the refinery is located and where Lion employs hundreds of workers.
Siding with Lion Oil, Judge Trauger wrote, “[T]he court finds that deference to the Arkansas Coercive Action is warranted, notwithstanding the fact that the Insurers ‘raced to the courthouse’ to file this action before Lion Oil could react to the underlying claim denial.”
The Washington, D.C.-based team includes insurance partner Peter Gillon and litigation associates Ashley Joyner and Vernon Thompson. Houston-based litigation partner Vincent Morgan is also assisting on the case.