Insurance coverage disputes and litigation frequently arise between policyholders and insurers, and our lawyers stand ready to represent our insurance company clients in these matters.
Insurance coverage conflicts are a mainstay of our practice, with our clients benefitting from our attorneys’ in-depth knowledge and understanding of the challenging, highly regulated environment in which insurers operate. We regularly provide clients with regional as well as national representation in addition to detailed coverage opinions and the prosecution and defense of declaratory judgment actions.
Our coverage dispute experience includes commercial general liability (CGL); professional negligence; automobile; commercial, industrial and residential property; specialty risk, such as environmental and toxic tort; and other forms of insurance. Our lawyers have litigated countless coverage disputes arising out of a host of insurance policy interpretation and application discrepancies including availability of coverage, triggering of coverage, indemnity, duty to defend, additional insured endorsements, broad form contractual coverage, multiple occurrences, policy exclusions and supplementary payments provisions.
In fact, our attorneys have litigated hundreds of coverage disputes based on a host of issues regarding insurance policy interpretation and application some of which include:
- Additional Insured Endorsements
- Application of Supplementary Payments Provision
- Broad Form Contractual Coverage
- Duty to Defend
- Multiple Occurrence Issues
- Policy Exclusions (Intended or Expected, Business Risk Exclusions, Mold Exclusions)
- Trigger of Coverage
Our Insurance Coverage Group has worked with prominent participants in the insurance and reinsurance industries in reviewing claim issues, assisting in preliminary investigations and providing informed advice on coverage determinations. Our lawyers have also worked with key business decision-makers on responding to adverse coverage determinations, troubleshooting policy coverage disputes and representing their interests in litigation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR).
EXPERT EXPERIENCE IN DIVERSE SECTORS
No business is immune to the liabilities posed by workplace injuries, product liability matters and customer complaints. When those complaints escalate into lawsuits, insurers and reinsurers need to make crucial coverage determinations when responding to claims and deciding whether to pursue matters that impact the level and availability of their reserves. Likewise, insureds will need to determine how to resolve disputes without raising their premiums, as well as how to respond to claims that exceed their coverage limits or are beyond the scope of their coverage.
Our insurance lawyers have worked with some of the country’s most well-regarded insurance companies and reinsurance entities. Our team has extensive experience negotiating coverage claims, reviewing legal issues related to complex insurance products, making liability determinations, and defending insureds against a variety of litigation and alternative dispute resolution. Our lawyers often counsel clients on high-value claims related to the real estate, entertainment, corporate and manufacturing sectors. These representations included helping a domestic insurance carrier collect $1.6 billion in disputed reinsurance claims from losses arising from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
REPRESENTATION WITH A PERSONAL TOUCH
Effective representation is never one-sided. We know and understand that strong firm-client collaboration is key to achieving our client’s goals in litigation and insurance claims disputes. Before we perform work on any insurance claim, we hold initial conferences with our clients to assess the insurance dispute or claims collection matters they are facing and conduct a comprehensive review of all existing documents and evidence. Afterward, we convene with our clients to discuss our findings and come to a mutual understanding of our clients’ goals. By performing this work upfront, our attorneys can efficiently develop tactics for addressing our clients’ claims and using substantive law and procedural rules to move judges and juries to their corners.
We pride ourselves on the diverse viewpoints and perspectives shared by the partners and associates of our growing firm. We harness our firm’s collective commercial litigation, premises liability, class action, environmental law and toxic torts experience to provide well-rounded insights on addressing claims disputes. Doing so helps us apply our insurance claim experience to diverse industries.
For example, our lawyers used varied backgrounds to help an insurance company counter a $150 million commercial claim arising from one of its independent film financing insurance products. Our attorneys also have helped developers analyze their exposure to environmental cleanup and damage claims and assess how insurance and reinsurance carriers would treat these claims.
Insurers and businesses can fully understand their coverage obligations and exposure issues by consulting with experienced counsel. Our insurance coverage practice group will harness its collective experience to put your organization in the best possible position to achieve its objectives at trial or through alternative dispute resolution.
Attorneys
Partner
Chairman and Chief Development Officer
Founding Partner, Firm General Counsel and Co-Chair of Professional Liability Practice Group
Founding Partner and Co-Chair of Construction, Crane and Heavy Equipment Litigation Practice Group
Partner
Partner
Partner
Partner
Partner
Partner
Of Counsel
Of Counsel
Associate
Founding Partner
President
Partner
