AMTRAK WINS PARTIAL APPEAL AGAINST INSURERS FOR SANDY DAMAGES

A three-judge panel of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York has found a lower-court judge erred last year in ruling that National Railroad Passenger Corporation, or Amtrak, could not claim up to $125m in insurance coverage for replacing portions of tunnels under the East and Hudson rivers that were not damaged during 2012’s superstorm Sandy. Amtrak had said it suffered more than $1bn in damages from the storm, primarily to two tunnels that pass under the rivers to Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan. Amtrak sued Partner Re Europe, Aspen Specialty Insurance and Swiss Re’s Westport Insurance unit in 2014 on allegations that they had agreed to pay up to $675m per covered occurrence but had made payments of only $30m. The appellate court panel found US District Judge Jed Rakoff’s ruling last year was premature because Amtrak did not know what changes would be needed in the undamaged parts of the tunnels and had not yet submitted repair plans to the Federal Railroad Administration.