Fifth Cir. Undoes Early Win for Lloyd’s Insurers in Oil Well Row

Lloyd’s carriers insuring an oil field services company that performed faulty work on a well must face a suit on their coverage obligations in a dispute with the oil and gas producer that operated the well.

A Texas federal magistrate judge was wrong to dismiss the oil and gas producer’s claims seeking a ruling on the insurers’ duties to defend and indemnify the services company, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said in an unpublished opinion Monday.

The dispute originated when BPX Production Co. sought payment from BJ Services for the cost of drilling a replacement well ...