CV-24-417, ACE American Ins. Co., et al. v. Walmart, Inc. - Sep 09, 2026
argument CV-24-417ACE American Ins. Co., et al. v. Walmart, Inc.
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What are the opening statements and procedural matters for the ACE American Ins. v. Walmart case?
You shall be heard.
May God save these United States, State of Arkansas, and his honorable court. You may see it. Thank you. Good morning. Today our court announces the disposition of ten appeals. Information about these appeals is available to the public in our clerk's office in room one thirty and on the judiciary website. This morning we have oral arguments in case number C V two four dash four one seven, Ace American Insurance Company et al. versus Walmart. And this is out of the Benton County Circuit Court uh I show counsel for the uh appellants uh Dan Sulvan. Peter Schultz. And I'm sorry, I've Saint
Geno's? Yes, Your Honor. Thank you.
Did I did I say that right or I apologize if I got that wrong. All right. And uh counsel for the Apple Lee, Vince Chattock.
Yes, sir.
And uh council are are are both sides ready to proceed? And my understanding is y'all have uh divided up twenty five minutes amongst yourselves and in reserving five for rebuttal, is that correct? That's correct, correct. All right. Uh council you may pro approach and proceed.
Morning. May it please the court. Daniel Sullivan for the Excess Insurers. We are here for three different appeal issues. I'm going to address the damages because of bodily injury issue. Mr. St. Ginos will address the occurrence and Mr. Schultz will address the arbitration issue. I'm going to try to uh s go for about eight or nine minutes to save time for my colleagues and for rebuttal. Now this is a de novo appeal on agreed facts, so it presents pure questions of law for this court. Each of the excess insurers policies requires that a covered suit seek damages because of bodily injury. So the question is whether what we call the social cost opioid lawsuits seek such damages. Now I want to focus on three points this morning.
There's a lot in the briefing I'm going to try uh to to to focus on three points. One, the governing standard for this policy language under the Arkansas Supreme Court's decision in Uniguard. to how Uniguard's analysis and this is key mirrors those out of state uh decisions that have held social costs lawsuits just like the ones here do not seek damages because of bodily injury. And finally we'll crack open the underlying complaints and see what they say. So what does Uniguard say to guide us? It says that damages because of turns on Whether the nature or or deterns on the nature or type of liability alleged, the basis of the liability, and what the damages are assessed for. That's at pages seven forty and seven forty three in the Southwestern Reporter.
Importantly, Uniguard rejected looser connections. It agreed that it is not enough if the if the damages sought would not have been occurred but for property damage or bodily injury, so but for causation is not enough. Uniguard agreed that even if property damage is in some sense an element of the of the underlying claim, that is not enough either. Instead, the liability must actually be based on a bodily injury and the damages sought must redress that bodily injury. Applying that rule, Uniguard held that even where there was no question, That there was specific property damage caused by the insured in that uh case. The problem was that the damages sought were redressing the breach of the lease rather than the property damage itself.
The situation here, Your Honors, is easier for the insurer. Social cost lawsuits don't even allege specific instances of bodily injury caused by Walmart. Instead, the chain of causation is that Walmart and every other company in the distribution chain for opioids contributed to an opioid epidemic nationwide, the wave of that epidemic crashed onto the shores of these plaintiff organizations, and they had to spend more money to fund their operations as a result. Now, I think it's instructive to compare Uniguard, on the one hand, Uniguard's analysis, to the trial court's approach and Walmart's arguments and the out-of-state opioid coverage decisions that we rely on. So the trial court thought that the rule was that any time damages arise from bodily injuries or property damage, that's enough to satisfy the policy requirement.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the opening statements and procedural matters for the ACE American Ins. v. Walmart case?
0:12–9:04
2
How does counsel for the appellants frame the three key legal issues they will address?
9:04–17:14
3
What is the significance of the Uniguard decision and how does it apply to the opioid lawsuits?
17:14–26:53
4
How do the parties compare Arkansas case law with out‑of‑state decisions on social‑cost opioid claims?
26:53–35:47
5
What do the representative complaints allege about Walmart’s role in the opioid epidemic?
35:47–44:17
6
How does Walmart argue that the alleged conduct is accidental and not covered under the policies?
44:17–53:18
7
What are the arguments concerning arbitration provisions and the applicability of the New York Convention?
53:18–1:04:58
8
What conclusions do the judges reach regarding duty to defend, coverage, and the final ruling?
1:04:58–1:10:18
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