California Court Hands Down $55M in Decision Against Three AIG Companies

An Alameda County, Calif., jury has awarded Pennsylvania-based Victaulic Co., $55.3 in damages against three AIG companies.

The trial in Victaulic Co. v. American Home Assurance Co. et al., in Alameda County Superior Court spanned six weeks before Judge Frank Roesch.

The verdict, which includes $9.3 million in compensation for breach of contract and bad faith and $46 million in punitive damages, is reportedly the largest verdict in the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda in nearly the last 10 years.

Victaulic was represented by Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. The trial attorneys were insurance recovery and advisory partners Joseph D. Jean and Colin T. Kemp and counsel Jeffrey A. Kiburtz.

The case concerns more than 10 years of commercial general liability insurance the three AIG companies — American Home Assurance Co., National Union Fire Insurance Co. and Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania — issued to Victaulic from 2001 to 2012.

Victaulic is a large producer of mechanical pipe-joining solutions and grooved pipe-joining systems.

The California jury found:

AIG breached the insurance policies; those breaches were made in bad faith; Victaulic is entitled to over $9.3 million in compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees; AIG acted with malice, oppression or fraud; an AIG must pay Victaulic an additional $46 million in punitive damages.