PES Holdings LLC, the owner of what was the largest oil refinery on the East Coast that was destroyed in an explosion and catastrophic fire in 2019, won on several motions for summary judgment in bankruptcy court in Delaware. In a decision filed December 16, 2021, the court agreed: 1) PES’s property damage losses to the 1,400-acre refinery complex must be valued in accordance with the favorable “Stipulated Loss Value” provision in its insurance policies, and 2) that any valuation of PES’s loss must include the full, undepreciated cost of labor necessary to replace the destroyed facility.
Cohen Ziffer managing partner Ken Frenchman was lead attorney for the owner and said, “This decision goes a long way toward getting PES the insurance coverage to which it is entitled.” Also representing PES was Alex Sugzda and Chelsea Ireland. The article titled “Former Philly Refinery Owner Gets Win In Row With Insurers” appeared in a December 16, 2021 post by Law 360’s Leslie Pappas.