Town of Harrietstown v. Westchester Fire Ins. Co.

── Town of Harrietstown v. Westchester Fire Ins. Co. ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Date: May 04, 2026 Category: General 25-2253-cv Town of Harrietstown v. Westchester Fire Ins. Co. UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT SUMMARY ORDER RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION “SUMMARY ORDER”). A PARTY CITING A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL. At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of New York, on the 4th day of May, two thousand twenty-six. PRESENT: GERARD E. LYNCH, JOSEPH F. BIANCO, MARIA ARAÚJO KAHN, Circuit Judges. _____________________________________ TOWN OF HARRIETSTOWN, Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant- Appellee, v. 25-2253-cv WESTCHESTER FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, ACE PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendants-Counter-Claimants- Appellants, BRANDYWINE HOLDINGS CORPORATION, Defendant. _____________________________________ FOR DEFENDANTS-COUNTER- JONATHAN D. HACKER, O’Melveny & Myers CLAIMANTS-APPELLANTS: LLP, Washington, DC (Jenya Godina,  O’Melveny & Myers, Washington, DC; Robert F. Walsh and Luciana P. Lalande, White and Williams LLP, New York, NY, on the brief). FOR PLAINTIFF-COUNTER- NICHOLAS C. RIGANO, Rigano LLC, Melville, DEFENDANT-APPELLEE: NY. Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (Mae A. D’Agostino, Judge). UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the judgment of the district court, entered on August 18, 2025, is AFFIRMED. Defendants-Appellants Westchester Fire Insurance Company and ACE Property and Casualty Insurance Company (“ACE”) (collectively, the “Insurers”) appeal from the district court’s partial grant of summary judgment in favor of Plaintiff-Appellee Town of Harrietstown (the “Town”), finding that the Insurers have a duty to defend the Town with respect to a claim relating to the Town’s use of contaminants at its regional airport. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts, procedural history, and issues on appeal, to which we refer only as necessary to explain our decision to affirm. BACKGROUND The Town owns and operates the Adirondack Regional Airport (the “Airport”) in Lake Clear, New York. The Insurers issued to the Town a series of “Airport Owners and Operators General Liability” policies during the period from June 1, 2000, to January 1, 2021 (the “Policies”). Joint App’x at 120. Each of the Policies covers, inter alia, “sums that the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of ‘bodily injury’ or ‘property damage’ to which this insurance applies,” and also states that the Insurers have “the right and duty to defend any ‘suit’ seeking those damages.” Id. at 174. In addition, each of the Policies contains an identical pollution