Quigg Brothers-Schermer, Inc. v. Commercial Union Insurance Company

**Quigg Brothers-Schermer v. Commercial Union Insurance Company** This case involved a dispute between Quigg Brothers-Schermer, Inc. and their insurance company, Commercial Union, over who should pay for expensive barge recovery costs. Quigg Brothers claimed that Commercial Union should cover these recovery expenses under their Protection and Indemnity (P&I) insurance policy, which typically covers liability and other maritime risks. The insurance company disagreed, arguing that these particular costs should be covered under a different type of insurance policy called hull insurance instead. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the insurance company. The court ruled that the barge recovery expenses were not covered under the P&I policy because they qualified as "sue and labor" expenses, which are specifically meant to be covered by hull insurance, not P&I insurance. This ruling matters for workers in the maritime industry because it clarifies which insurance policies cover different types of recovery costs when accidents happen. Workers should understand that their employers may have multiple insurance policies, and disputes over which policy applies can affect how quickly expenses are paid and whether full coverage is available for workplace incidents.