Wins

GMSR’s client Continental Casualty Company paid over $25 million in defense costs for an industrial insured facing environmental claims at the Portland Harbor Superfund Site.  Continental sued its co-insurers for contribution.  A few months before trial, one of the defendant insurers moved for dismissal, claiming immunity from contribution under Oregon law because it had (very belatedly) settled the claim with the insured.

The trial court denied the dismissal motion, concluding the immunity statute did not apply to the situation presented.  In 2020, GMSR defeated the moving insurer’s writ petition to the Oregon Supreme Court.  Continental proceeded to win a contribution judgment against that insurer at trial.

Although the Oregon Court of Appeals initially reversed Continental’s contribution judgment, GMSR secured review in the Oregon Supreme Court, and in 2025, won a unanimous decision reversing the Court of Appeals.

Click here to read the Oregon Supreme Court opinion:  Continental Cas. Co. v. Argonaut Ins. Co., 373 Or. 389, 567 P.3d 1059 (2025).