Two insurance companies representing hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen have filed a lawsuit against the company whose workers sparked a fire in November 2015 while doing work at the Stamford offices of Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management Co. that resulted in the loss of his art collection.
According to a Connecticut Law Tribune report, Great Northern Insurance Co. and Chubb Custom Insurance Co., filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Hartford against Infinity Mechanical Inc. of Garden City Park, N.Y., claiming that the company failed to “properly train its employees in the use of welding and/or grinding equipment,” adding that the workers “failed to use adequate fire protection” and exposed the building to “unreasonable risk of damage by fire.” The insurance companies are seeking at least $75,000 in damages ”“ which is roughly the same amount that the insurers paid Cohen to repair the property.
In 2015, Bloomberg estimated the value of Cohen”™s art collection at approximately $1 billion. The lawsuit did not identify which artworks were destroyed in the fire or their estimated value.
Cohen is the only investor in Point72. After his former hedge fund SAC Capital pleaded guilty to insider trading in 2013, he was barred from managing outside money until 2018, pending government approval.
