Eaton wins Sixth Circuit appeal

Client(s) Eaton Corporation

Jones Day represents Eaton Corporation affiliate Cooper Industries, LLC in a claim for insurance coverage for CERCLA liabilities of a predecessor entity arising from the Lower Passaic Rivers Study Area in Essex County New Jersey. After Cooper filed suit in New Jersey against its insurers, the insurers commenced a collateral action in the Western District of Michigan arguing that a 1989 Settlement Agreement between Cooper and those insurers barred part of Cooper's claims. In a summary order, the district court ruled in favor of the insurers. Cooper appealed to the Sixth Circuit.

Following oral argument, the Sixth Circuit reversed the district court's decision and entered judgment in favor of Cooper, holding that Cooper's interpretation of the 1989 Settlement was unambiguously correct. The decision restores all of Cooper's original coverage claims in New Jersey, where Cooper has already won partial summary judgment against its insurers on those claims not impacted by the collateral litigation in the Western District of Michigan.

Employers Ins. of Wausau v. McGraw-Edison Co., No. 16-1264 (6th Cir.)