Komatsu Mining Corp. v. Columbia Casualty Co.

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-insurer’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-insured’s action, seeking to have defendant pay insurance policy proceeds to satisfy $14 million settlement of underlying action under section 14 of Securities Exchange Act filed by investors in entity that eventually merged with plaintiff, where investors claimed that entity had failed to disclose some internal projections of entity’s future growth that could have been used to negotiate higher merger price for investors than one agreed to by entity. Exclusion in policy provided that defendant need not indemnify plaintiff for any amount of settlement of any inadequate consideration claim, and Dist. Ct. could properly have found that underlying investors’ lawsuit that resulted in instant settlement was essentially inadequate consideration claim, where, according to investors, reason that alleged disclosures by entity were inadequate was because entity failed to reveal that merger price was too low.