Opinion
2016–03454 Index No. 6304/15
03-09-2018
GRAPHIC ARTS MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, respondent-appellant, v. PINE BUSH CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, et al., appellants-respondents.
Hogan Lovells US, LLP, New York, N.Y. (Ira M. Feinberg of counsel), for appellants-respondents. Lester Schwab Katz & Dwyer, LLP (Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, LLP, New York, N.Y. [Jonathan K. Youngwood, Janet A. Gochman, and Robert Arnay ], of counsel), for respondent-appellant.
Hogan Lovells US, LLP, New York, N.Y. (Ira M. Feinberg of counsel), for appellants-respondents.
Lester Schwab Katz & Dwyer, LLP (Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, LLP, New York, N.Y. [Jonathan K. Youngwood, Janet A. Gochman, and Robert Arnay ], of counsel), for respondent-appellant.
L. PRISCILLA HALL, J.P., LEONARD B. AUSTIN, SANDRA L. SGROI, LINDA CHRISTOPHER, JJ.
DECISION & ORDERAppeal and cross appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Orange County (Elaine Slobod, J.), dated February 3, 2016. The order, insofar as appealed from, granted that branch of the defendants' motion for summary judgment which was to dismiss the fifth cause of action only to the extent of directing entry of a judgment declaring that the amount of the settlement in an underlying action entitled T.E. v Pine Bush Central School Dist., commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York under case number 12–CV–2203, was reasonable up to the sum of $1,846,000, and otherwise referred for trial the question of the reasonableness of the amount of the settlement that exceeds the sum of $1,846,000 in that action. The order, insofar as cross-appealed from, granted that branch of the defendants' motion for summary judgment which was to dismiss the fifth cause of action to the extent of directing the entry of a judgment declaring that the amount of the settlement in the underlying action was reasonable up to the sum of $1,846,000.
ORDERED that the order is reversed, on the facts, without costs or disbursements, and that branch of the defendants' motion for summary judgment which was to dismiss the fifth cause of action is denied as premature.
In light of our determination on the companion appeal (see Graphic Arts Mutual Insurance Company v. Pine Bush Central School District, 159 A.D.3d 769, ––– N.Y.S.3d ––––, 2018 WL 1221765 [Appellate Division Docket No. 2015–11565; decided herewith] ), it is premature to render a determination on the reasonableness of the settlement amount tendered by the defendants in the underlying action entitled T.E. v Pine Bush Central School Dist., commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York under case number 12–CV–2203, until the issue of indemnification has been decided.
HALL, J.P., AUSTIN, SGROI and CHRISTOPHER, JJ., concur.