Court of Appeals Arguments of Interest for the Week of January 6, 2014

Arguments this week in the Court of Appeals that may be of interest to Commercial Division practitioners include:

Docket No. 2: Executive Plaza, LLC v. Peerless Insurance Company (Argued on Monday, January 6, 2014) (addressing, on a certified question from the Second Circuit, whether a lawsuit under a fire insurance policy is barred by a policy provision that requires any lawsuit be brought within two years of the damage, when a contractual condition precedent to suit could not reasonably be accomplished within two years). See the Second Circuit decision here.
Docket No. 8: Biotronik A.G. v. Conor Medsystems Ireland, Ltd. (Argued on Tuesday, January 7, 2014) (examining whether the relief sought in an exclusive distributor's breach of contract claim against a manufacturer for lost profits from sales to third parties constitutes "consequential damages," and therefore barred under the terms of the distribution agreement, or instead "general damages" given that the distributor’s resale to third parties “was the very purpose of the Agreement”). See the First Department decision here.
Docket No. 11: Voss v. The Netherlands Insurance Company (To be argued Thursday, January 9, 2014) (considering whether the doctrine that an insurance policyholder is "charged with conclusive presumption of knowledge of the terms and limits" of the policy can be invoked to defeat a claim against an insurance broker for negligence in advising the insured as to the adequate amount of insurance). See the Fourth Department decision here.