Insurer, the insurer of Insured’s forty-seven-foot catamaran sailing vessel, brought a declaratory judgment action to determine whether the “constructive total loss” of Insured’s vessel was covered under the relevant policy. Insured brought a counterclaim alleging violations of Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 176D, 3(9) and ch. 93A, 9(3A). The district court ruled that pursuant to the policy’s choice-of-law provision, New York law barred Insured’s Massachusetts counterclaim because New York law does not provide for a chapters 176D and 93A claim. The First Circuit reversed, holding (1) Insured’s statutorily-based counterclaim was extra-contractual; (2) the plain language of the choice-of-law provision was not broad enough to unambiguously encompass an extra-contractual claim; and (3) any ambiguity in the policy must be construed in favor of Insured.

Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Andersson, 21-1648, (1st. Cir., 4-19-2023)

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