Mark Dreyer and Isaac Ellis Win Favorable Decision for JP Energy
Three insurers must cover the owner of an oil pipeline that caught fire in several lawsuits despite their indirect contractual relationship to the energy company, an Oklahoma appeals court has found, breaking new ground in the state’s insurance law. JP Energy Marketing LLC was pulled into 19 lawsuits after the fire occurred at its Great Salt Plains Pipeline in 2012 while it was still under construction. In an opinion filed March 1, Oklahoma’s Court of Civic Appeals affirmed a lower court’s decision that found JP Energy is entitled to coverage under three separate policies taken out by subcontractors Global Pipeline Construction LLC and Wilcrest Field Services Inc. The court ruled coverage is required despite the fact Global and Wilcrest only signed contracts with JP Energy’s primary subcontractor, IPS Engineering LLC, and not with the energy company itself.