In this action, plaintiff, Cold Spring Harbor Central School District (the District) previously moved to compel defendants to provide documents relating to the amounts of any settlements, verdicts, or judgments of other Child Victims Act (CVA) actions against other [*2]policyholders. This Court, in an order dated June 28, 2024, granted the District's motion to the extent of ordering defendant Utica Mutual Insurance Company (Utica) to produce a redacted copy of its CVA spreadsheet, as testified to by one of its employees. This Court noted that the District was "not seeking any privileged information such as claim files[,] but only the amounts of the other cases." Accordingly, this Court permitted Utica to "redact any information other than the amounts of any settlements, verdicts[,] or judgments."

The District now seeks renewal of its prior motion to compel and, upon renewal, to compel Utica to provide a current version of the CVA spreadsheet containing (1) the amounts of all other CVA settlements, verdicts, and judgments, and (2) the captions and index numbers of all such actions. If such information is not contained in the CVA spreadsheet, then the District, upon renewal, requests additional documents that would allow it to identify the caption and index number of each action in the CVA spreadsheet. Utica opposes the motion.

The District's motion is granted. As this Court noted in its June 2024 order, Utica challenges the reasonableness of the District's settlements of certain CVA cases, for which the District now seeks indemnification from the defendant insurers. A Utica employee testified at a deposition that Utica believed the settlement amounts to be unreasonable "based on what our experience and what we've seen with other cases." Thus, Utica opened the door to the information contained in the CVA spreadsheet. Indeed, it would be impossible to ascertain the reasonableness of the District's settlements, as compared to the actions in Utica's CVA spreadsheet, without a comparison of the allegations and culpability of the policyholder (as is distinct from the individual alleged abuser if the policyholder is a municipal or corporate entity) (see Harleysville Worcester Ins. Co. v Wesco Ins. Co., 314 F Supp 3d 534 [observing that the reasonableness of a settlement is evaluated "in view of the size of possible recovery and degree of probability of (the) claimant's success against the insured"] [quotation marks and citations omitted]).

Accordingly, within 45 days of the date that this order is uploaded onto NYSCEF, Utica shall (1) provide the District with a current version of its CVA spreadsheet, and (2) provide the District with the index number and caption of each action in the CVA spreadsheet. As to actions that are sealed, counsel for the District is ordered not to disclose the captions or index numbers to anyone except attorneys and employees of Farrell Fritz, the District's superintendent, and members of the District's Board of Education.^[FN1] Any other such person to whom this information is disclosed shall be given a copy of this order, and shall be advised that they cannot disclose any such information to any person except as allowed by this order, and shall be further advised that their failure to adhere to this order may result in contempt proceedings against the District's counsel and/or sanctions against the District, including the possibility of having the District's complaint stricken with prejudice. It is the District's responsibility to ascertain which actions, if any, are sealed.

This shall constitute the decision and order of the Court.