Two insurers sat on five tender letters across more than two years. Now another carrier wants its $67,552 defense bill paid back.
Southwest Marine and General Insurance Company filed suit on May 26, 2026 in the Southern District of New York against United Specialty Insurance Company and State National Insurance Company, alleging both carriers ignored its repeated demands to take over the defense of two construction-industry insureds.
The dispute starts with an October 7, 2022 fall at 159 Alexander Street in Yonkers. According to the complaint, William Rodrigues Valim, working for subcontractor Sandstone Structures, LLC, sued Extell Hudson Waterfront, LLC and Platinum Developers in New York County Supreme Court. The complaint says Extell and Platinum were performing "construction, demolition, renovations and/or repair work" at the site. Valim alleges injuries including a fractured left wrist requiring multiple surgical procedures, a fractured right wrist requiring surgery, a sprained right knee, a sprained right shoulder and multiple spinal disc herniations. He claims past and future loss of earnings expected to exceed $2,000,000 and special damages expected to exceed $400,000. His four causes of action are negligence and violations of New York Labor Law sections 200, 240 and 241 - statutes that govern workplace safety duties of owners and contractors on construction sites.
Southwest Marine insures Extell and Platinum under a CGL policy with a $2,000,000 each-occurrence limit and a $4,000,000 general aggregate. It has been defending them in the underlying suit.
The subcontract is the pivot. According to the complaint, Sandstone's subcontract with Platinum required Sandstone to carry CGL and umbrella coverage naming Extell and Platinum as additional insureds on a primary and non-contributory basis. The Exhibit C insurance schedule quoted in the filing states that the trade contractor's "insurance in all instances shall be the primary and non-contributory to the insurance maintained by the Owner, the Additional Insureds and the Construction Manager; and shall so provide whether by specific endorsement or otherwise."
Sandstone furnished a Certificate of Insurance identifying United Specialty as the CGL carrier (policy PSS2201597-0, April 20, 2022 to April 20, 2023, $1,000,000 each occurrence/$2,000,000 general aggregate) and State National as the umbrella carrier (policy AVM2200259-0, same dates, $3,000,000 each occurrence/$3,000,000 aggregate). According to the complaint, the COI states that Extell and Platinum are additional insureds under both policies, with coverage primary and non-contributory.
Southwest Marine says it tendered the defense to both carriers in letters dated July 15, 2023, September 5, 2023, October 24, 2023, April 24, 2024 and December 22, 2025. The complaint alleges that one defendant "has never responded substantively to the tender" and the other "has never responded to the tender." (The complaint refers to "Defendant United National" in those paragraphs; the named defendant elsewhere is United Specialty.) On information and belief, the complaint says both carriers are already defending Sandstone in the underlying suit and in a third-party action Extell and Platinum filed against Sandstone on October 31, 2023.
To date, Southwest Marine says it has spent $67,552 defending the two additional insureds, with costs still climbing. The eight-count complaint seeks declaratory judgment that United Specialty and State National must defend and indemnify Extell and Platinum on a primary and non-contributory basis, money judgment for defense costs, and a finding that both carriers waived their coverage defenses by failing to respond in writing.
The allegations have not been tested in court. Neither United Specialty nor State National has filed a response on the docket, and no court has ruled on the claims.
