Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard is not the only big lawsuit involving Harvard University. As the NYT's Adam Liptak reports, Harvard is also in state court, suing one of its insurers over $15 million in coverage for the costs of defending itself from the affirmative action lawsuit.
Days after Students for Fair Admissions sued Harvard in 2014, arguing that its practice of taking account of race in its undergraduate admissions decisions was unlawful and harmed Asian American applicants, the university formally notified its primary insurance carrier to seek payment of its defense costs. That policy had a $25 million limit, after Harvard paid $2.5 million.
But Harvard did not alert Zurich, its excess insurer, which was meant to cover the next $15 million, until long after the policy's deadline had passed.
That additional money is at issue in the case before the federal judge in Boston.
"Somebody seriously messed up," said Tom Baker, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "I teach about this stuff. One of the things you teach people about claims-made policies is that you've got to provide notice early and often."
Liptaks' story also quotes and links to the filings.
