Federal Insurance v. McKane
Opinion of the Court
Third-party-defendants-counter-elaimants-appellants Warren McKane, individually and as administrator of the estate of Nancy J. McKane, Anthonina Iar-robino, Anthony Iarrobino, and Tres, Inc. (collectively, “third-party defendants”) appeal from the September 19, 2005 second amended judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Castel, J.) denying their motion for reconsideration and granting summary judgment in favor of defendant-third-party-plaintiff Fidelity & Guaranty Insurance Company'(“FGIC”) on its claim for indemnification. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the facts and procedural history of this case.
Third-party defendants argue that the district court erred when it found that FGIC properly entered into the settlement agreement (“Settlement Agreement”) with HRH Construction, LLC (“HRH”).
Third-party defendants also contend that the district court erred when it denied their motion to amend their third-party answer and to assert a counterclaim against FGIC alleging that FGIC entered into the Settlement Agreement in bad faith. The GAI, however, authorized FGIC to “settle any ... right or claim ... it considers reasonable under the circumstances in its sole and absolute discretion, subject only to the requirement that it act in good faith.” The GAI defined “good faith” as “absence of deliberate or .willful malfeasance.” Despite third-party defendants’ protestations to the contrary, expert opinion that HRH was the party in default is not sufficient to establish that FGIC acted with deliberate or willful malfeasance when it exercised its contractually-mandated discretion to enter into the Settlement Agreement with HRH in order to avoid what it believed would be a costly litigation with the risk of an adverse judgment. Moreover, third-party defendants represented to the district court that they sought no additional discovery bearing on the issue of bad faith. Thus, we find no error in the district court’s denial of third-party defendants’ motion. See Lee v. T.F. DeMilo Corp., 29 A.D.3d 867, 868, 815 N.Y.S.2d 700 (2d Dep’t 2006) (holding that surety operates in good faith when it acts “in the honest belief that it was liable”) (citation omitted).
For the foregoing reasons, the district court’s judgment is AFFIRMED.
. On appeal, the third-party defendants do not seek to reverse the dismissal of their claims against Plaintiff-counter-defendant ap-pellee HRH and Defendant-counter-claimant-appellee Federal Insurance Company.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- FEDERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant-Counter-Claimant-Appellee, HRH Construction, LLC, Plaintiff-Counter-Claimant-Appellee, Fidelity & Guaranty Insurance Company, Defendant-Third-Party-Plaintiff-Appellee v. Warren McKANE, individually and as administrator of the estate of Nancy J. McKane, Anthonina I. Iarrobino, Anthony Iarrobino and Tres, Inc., Third-Party-Defendants-Counter-Claimants-Appellants
- Status
- Published