Harvard's suit against insurance broker over affirmative action case coverage narrowed
By Nate Raymond
Aug 15 (Reuters) -A federal judge on Thursday dismissed part of a lawsuit by Harvard University accusing a broker of botching the school's claim for up to $15 million in insurance coverage to help pay its legal bills in the case that led the U.S. Supreme Court to bar the consideration of race as a factor in college admissions.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston ruled that Harvard waited too long to sue a unit of Marsh & McLennan MMC.N for breach of contract for failing to timely notify one of its excess insurance carriers of the affirmative action case.
That insurance carrier, a unit of Zurich Insurance Group, last year convinced a federal appeals court to hold that it had no obligation to cover expenses arising from a lawsuit filed in 2014 by Students for Fair Admissions.
That lawsuit, along with a related case against the University of North Carolina, resulted in a landmark Supreme Court ruling in June 2023 that ended affirmative action policies long used to raise the number of Black, Hispanic and other underrepresented minority students on American campuses.
Both cases were filed by SFFA, a nonprofit founded by affirmative action opponent Edward Blum, which alleged that Harvard's race-conscious admissions policies discriminated against Asian American applicants.
Harvard has said that the costs of defending against that lawsuit and a related government investigation exceeded the $25 million limit in a policy issued by its primary insurer, an AIG Inc unit, which had a $2.5 million deductible.
The universitywas represented by the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in the affirmative action case.
Harvard did not respond to a request for comment. Marsh declined to comment.
In a lawsuit filed in October, Harvard said after SFFA sued, it asked Marsh USA, its insurance broker, to report the matter to AIG for coverage but that unbeknownst to the school, Marsh did not also report SFFA's case to Zurich until 2017.
Harvard said its policy with Zurich would have entitled it to up to $15 million in coverage in excess of the $27.5 million. Zurich denied coverage, saying Harvard failed to provide it timely notice of its claim.
After Harvard lost its case against Zurich, it sued Marsh for breach of contract and malpractice for failing to provide timely notice of the SFFA case to Zurich as required under its agreement with the broker.
But Burroughs on Thursday said that under New York law, which she said governed, Harvard needed to have brought its breach of contract claims by September 2022 and that they were filed outside the statute of limitations.
Harvard's remaining claims for broker malpractice remain pending.
The case is President and Fellows of Harvard College v. Marsh USA Inc, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, No. 1:23-cv-13017.
For Harvard: Robert Gilbert and Daniel Sack of Latham & Watkins
For Marsh: Jonathan Handler and Candace Hensley of Day Pitney
Read more:
Harvard cannot recoup $15 mln from insurer for race case costs, court rules
US Supreme Court rejects affirmative action in university admissions
Harvard can't force insurer to cover $15 mln in race-case defense costs - judge
Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston
Aset Berkaitan
Berita Terkini
Penafian: Entiti XM Group menyediakan perkhidmatan pelaksanaan sahaja dan akses ke Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian, yang membolehkan sesorang melihat dan/atau menggunakan kandungan yang ada di dalam atau melalui laman web, tidak bertujuan untuk mengubah atau memperluas, juga tidak mengubah atau mengembangkannya. Akses dan penggunaan tersebut tertakluk kepada: (i) Terma dan Syarat; (ii) Amaran Risiko; dan Penafian Penuh. Oleh itu, kandungan sedemikian disediakan tidak lebih dari sekadar maklumat umum. Terutamanya, perlu diketahui bahawa kandungan Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian bukan permintaan, atau tawaran untuk melakukan transaksi dalam pasaran kewangan. Berdagang dalam mana-mana pasaran kewangan melibatkan tahap risiko yang besar terhadap modal anda.
Semua bahan yang diterbitkan di Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian kami bertujuan hanya untuk tujuan pendidikan/maklumat dan tidak mengandungi – dan tidak boleh dianggap mengandungi nasihat kewangan, cukai pelaburan atau dagangan dan cadangan, atau rekod harga dagangan kami, atau tawaran, atau permintaan untuk suatu transaksi dalam sebarang instrumen kewangan atau promosi kewangan yang tidak diminta kepada anda.
Sebarang kandungan pihak ketiga serta kandungan yang disediakan oleh XM, seperti pendapat, berita, penyelidikan, analisis, harga, maklumat lain atau pautan ke laman web pihak ketiga yang terdapat dalam laman web ini disediakan berdasarkan "seadanya" sebagai ulasan pasaran umum dan bukanlah nasihat pelaburan. Sesuai dengan apa-apa kandungan yang ditafsir sebagai penyelidikan pelaburan, anda mestilah ambil perhatian dan menerima bahawa kandungan tersebut tidak bertujuan dan tidak sediakan berdasarkan keperluan undang-undang yang direka untuk mempromosikan penyelidikan pelaburan bebas dan oleh itu, ia dianggap sebagai komunikasi pemasaran di bawah peraturan dan undang-undang yang berkaitan. SIla pastikan bahawa anda telah membaca dan memahami Notifikasi mengenai Penyelidikan Pelaburan Bukan Bebas dan Amaran Risiko mengenai maklumat di atas yang boleh diakses di sini.
