A Connecticut construction firm must indemnify an Arch Insurance Group Inc. unit for $39.1 million in connection with the building of a minor league baseball stadium, a federal district court has ruled.
Arch Insurance Co., a unit of Jersey City, New Jersey-based Arch Insurance Group, had issued surety bonds to North Haven, Connecticut-based Centerplan Construction Co. in connection with its construction of the Hartford Stadium, according to Wednesday’s ruling by the U.S. District Court in Hartford, Connecticut, in Arch Insurance Co. v. Centerplan Construction Co. et. al.
The stadium, which is known as the Dunkin’ Donuts Park, is the home field of the Hartford Yard Goats of the Eastern League baseball team.
General indemnity agreements were issued in connection with the surety bonds that obligated Centerplan and its related companies to indemnify Arch for any losses and expenses it sustained because of the bonds, according to the ruling.
In June 2016 the city of Hartford terminated Centerplan’s design-build agreement for the stadium’s construction citing “continued defaults,” according to the ruling. Arch entered into a takeover agreement with Hartford and the Hartford Stadium Authority to complete the stadium’s construction.
Arch filed suit against the defendants in U.S. District Court in November 2016 on charges including contractual indemnification.
The indemnity agreements govern Arch’s right to indemnification, said the ruling. “Because the Defendants have failed to provide evidence from which a jury could reasonably conclude that Arch acted on the Hartford Stadium and performance bonds in bad faith, there is no dispute as to an issue of material fact, and Arch is entitled to indemnity for payments on these claims as a matter of law,” the ruling said, in awarding the insurer $39.1 million.
