Calfee Insurance Coverage Team Assists Smucker’s in Fighting Off Insurer’s Attempt to Collect Millions in Deductibles

Calfee Policyholder-side Insurance Coverage Partners Matthew A. Chiricosta and K. James Sullivan, Litigation Partner Fritz E. Berckmueller, and Associate Attorney Nicholas M. Hudnell represented Smucker’s alongside K&L Gates in J.M. Smucker Co. v. Ace American Insurance Co., case number 5:23-cv-00607 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.  Smucker’s successfully defeated an insurer’s wrongful demand for deductibles totaling up to $56.2 million before being willing to honor its coverage obligations, as detailed in the March 27, 2024, Law360 article “Smucker Needn’t Pay Multiple Limits For Tainted Jif Row” by Jennifer Mandato.

The article explains the ruling by an Ohio federal judge that allegations against J.M. Smucker Co. seeking damages for a 2022 recall of certain Jif peanut butter products constituted a single occurrence, rejecting the insurer’s effort to collect hundreds of separate six-figure deductibles.

Read the full Law360 article.

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