Matter of New York City Asbestos Litigation

In Matter of New York City Asbestos Litigation, 41 AD3d 299 (1st Dept 2007), there existed several contracts between defendant Treadwell Corporation, a contractor and plaintiff's employer, and defendant Con Edison, owner of the two sites where plaintiff worked. One of the contracts between the parties, the Astoria Unit 6 Steam Generating contract, required Treadwell to indemnify Con Edison " from and against any and all liability for injury to person or property occasioned, ...wholly or in part, by any act or omission of ' Treadwell." Id. at 300. The trial court granted Con Edison's post-trial motion for judgment on its claim for contractual indemnification finding that "the language of the contract required Treadwell to indemnify Con Edison if the injury was occasioned, even in part, by an act or omission of Treadwell. Id. On appeal, Treadwell argued that the indemnification agreement lacked the necessary language evincing an unequivocal intent to have Treadwell indemnify Con Edison for its own negligence. Id. at 301. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's decision and held that the language of the clause "was properly interpreted as broad enough to permit indemnification, even in the face of negligence on the part of Con Edison." Id.