Community Redevelopment Agency v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co.

Opinion

CROSKEY, J.

In this action, which appears to be the final part of a major and complex construction defect case, we are called upon to construe the provisions of an excess liability policy which calls for the application of the horizontal exhaustion rule. The precise question presented is whether an excess insurer, under policy provisions such as those presented here, has any obligation, in a continuing loss case, to “drop down” and provide a defense to a common insured before the liability limits of all primary insurers on the risk have been exhausted. Consistent with the horizontal…