Tens of Millions of Dollars in Potential Insurance Coverage Restored

When Sunbeam Corporation was confronted with the cost of environmental remediation on the land of companies it had acquired, it turned to its insurance carriers to help pay. The carriers turned Sunbeam down, relying on an exclusion that they had added to their policies during the early 1970s. Having lost in the trial court and in the Superior Court, Sunbeam sought out Raynes & Lawn to represent it in its final chance with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Our attorneys persuaded the Supreme Court to adopt “regulatory estoppel” as the law of Pennsylvania, to reverse the Superior Court’s en banc decision, and to reinstate Sunbeam’s claims against its insurers. The Supreme Court’s decision is reported at Sunbeam Corporation v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 566 Pa. 494, 781 A.2d 1189 (2001).