Sony insurer sues to avoid paying for PSN hack lawsuits
updated 12:10 pm EDT, Thu July 21, 2011
Claims no responsibility in 55+ class action suits
Zurich American Insurance, one of several companies insuring Sony, has filed a lawsuit in New York's Superior Court arguing that it isn't responsible to protect the entertainment giant from class-actions and other lawsuits as well as legal investigations that could arise from the recent hacking of Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity service. Zurich has also sued other insurance companies who also be responsible for coverage. To date, the breaches have cut Sony's operating profit by an estimated $178 million.
In its filing, Zurich claimed that there are currently 55 class-action complaints on record, as well as several probes on the state and federal level. The insurer contends that its policy was a commercial general liability policy underwriting Sony Computer Entertainment of America, which is not the Sony unit subject to the lawsuits filed. The insurer also asserted that there were no claims for "bodily injury, property damage or personal and advertising injury" that the policy would cover.
Zurich has also sued Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, AIG and ACE, seeking court clarification of who's responsible for what under the many insurance policies the various parties have written.
Sony's PSN and Qriocity online services were hacked in April. Personal information from over 77 million users was compromised. Sony immediately closed down the networks for nearly a month and has spent almost three months rebuilding and restoring these digital entertainment and media content services. [via Reuters]
