ACMAT Corporation was in the business of installing acoustical ceilings in commercial buildings. It had been named in several lawsuits since 1988 seeking compensation for damages caused by exposure to asbestos. Some of the alleged injuries dated back to the 1950s. At that time, ACMAT was called Acoustical Materials Corporation (Accoustical) and was a subsidiary of a New York corporation called Waldvogel Brothers, Inc. (Waldvogel).

ACMAT searched its records, hoping to locate insurance coverage that applied to the injuries alleged in the lawsuits. It did not find insurance policies but it did find evidence that Greater New York Mutual Insurance Company (GNYMIC) had insured Acoustical. A certificate of insurance issued by an authorized representative of GNYMIC indicated that Acoustical had in effect through January 1, 1966, a products liability and comprehensive general liability policy with bodily injury limits of $500,000 per person and $1 million per accident. ACMAT brought the certificate to the attention of GNYMIC but it denied that the policy ever existed.

ACMAT filed an action seeking a declaration that GNYMIC had issued the policy and that it was in full force and effect from January 1, 1964 to January 1, 1968. The trial court found that GNYMIC did, in fact, issue a comprehensive general liability and products liability policy with limits of $500,000 per person and $1 million per accident. The court also found that coverage was in effect from January 1, 1965 to January 1, 1966, and that the policy and its "similar predecessors and successors" were in effect from January 1, 1964 to January 1, 1968. GNYMIC appealed.

On appeal, GNYMIC tried to establish that the trial court should not have decided the case because, for technical and procedural reasons, it did not have the authority to decide such a case. The Appellate Court of Connecticut disagreed with these procedural arguments. It then proceeded to hear GNYMIC's substantive arguments, specifically that the evidence did not properly prove the existence of an insurance contract and that the certificate of insurance was "suspect."

During the trial, ACMAT presented evidence including (1) the certificate of insurance itself; (2) letters from GNYMIC acknowledging receipt of workers compensation claims Acoustical submitted for employees injured during the years 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1967; (3) documents from 1967 and 1968 detailing Acoustical's transfer of its insurance coverage from GNYMIC to Aetna Life and Casualty Company; (4) a deposition from Acoustical's previous owner stating that he had obtained insurance coverage for his company from GNYMIC; (5) the testimony of an agent who sold GNYMIC insurance coverage to Acoustical in 1962; and (6) the testimony of a GNYMIC employee who issued the policy to Acoustical.

The appellate court concluded that there was sufficient evidence to support the trial court's findings regarding the insurance policy, and that the trial court's decision was reasonable.

The judgment of the lower court was affirmed.

ACMAT Corporation vs. Greater New York Mutual Insurance Company-No. 25099-Appellate Court of Connecticut-April 12, 2005-869 Atlantic Reporter 2d 1254