Eric L. Maassen is a partner in the Litigation Department of Foley & Lardner LLP and is chair of the department's E-Discovery Functional Specialties Group. Mr. Maassen focuses his practice in the substantive areas of reinsurance and insurance litigation, fiduciary litigation, and general commercial litigation.
In his capacity as chair of the E-Discovery Functional Specialties Group, Mr. Maassen leads a team of attorneys with experience in the preservation, collection, processing, production and use of electronically-stored information in litigation. He also supervises department initiatives to deliver e-discovery services effectively and efficiently and participates in department training and education relating to e-discovery.
In addition to his e-discovery activities, Mr. Maassen focuses his practice on complex commercial disputes before federal and state courts and in private arbitrations. His practice is concentrated in reinsurance and insurance dispute resolution and counseling. He has extensive experience with reinsurance relationships involving, among others, non-standard automobile and workers compensation business. He also has significant experience with disputes involving CGL and other types of primary business insurance. Mr. Maassen also represents clients in contested estate and trust matters, including disputes involving the validity and construction of estate planning documents, claims of breaches of a fiduciary's duties to beneficiaries, will contests, and other claims against and on behalf of estate representatives, trustees, and beneficiaries.
Mr. Maassen also has handled complex business disputes in the fields of sales of goods, technology licensing and development agreements, product distribution, franchising, stock and asset purchase agreements, real estate, products liability, and consumer protection laws. Mr. Maassen has represented clients in a variety of industries, in addition to reinsurance and insurance, including metal recycling, automated assembly systems, electrical utilities, heavy vehicles, paper manufacturing and distribution, medical diagnostics, chemical process modeling software development, and the airline industry.
Before joining Foley, Mr. Maassen served as a judicial clerk to the Hon. Rudolph T. Randa, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin. He is a graduate of Wartburg College (B.A., summa cum laude, 1993) and the University of Virginia (J.D., 1997). While in law school, he served as a notes editor for the Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law.
Mr. Maassen is a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin and is admitted to practice in various federal courts. He is a member of the board of directors of the Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association.
Mr. Maassen's recent publications and speaking engagements, in addition to other internal firm training and CLE presentations, include the following:
· "E-Discovery Issues," Law of Product Distribution and Franchise Seminar, May 24, 2011
· "The Seventh Circuit E-Discovery Pilot Program and What It Means for Litigation Parties," Law of Product Distribution and Franchise Seminar, May 24, 2011
· "10 Strategies for Reducing E-Discovery Costs," Association of Corporate Counsel, Wisconsin Chapter, Annual Conference, May 19, 2011
· "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over - A Disputed Policy Buyback and Allocation," Mock Arbitration, Brokers & Reinsurance Markets Association, Committee Rendezvous, April 12, 2011
· "Are Insolvent Corporations Hurt By More Debt?" Bankruptcy Law360, January 18, 2011
· "Today's Discovery: Issues and Resources," Foley & Lardner LLP, September 14, 2010
· "Settlor Incompetence and The Trustee's Quandary - Dealing With a Mentally Incapacitated Settlor," Trusts & Estates Magazine, July 2010 Issue
· "Arbitrator Selection and Bias in Reinsurance Disputes," Brokers & Reinsurance Markets Association, Committee Rendezvous, April 2010
· "Obama Insurance Company v. Palin Reinsurance Company," Mock Arbitration, Brokers & Reinsurance Markets Association, Committee Rendezvous, March 2009
· "The Right to Associate: Growing Implications for Cedents and Reinsurers," Brokers & Reinsurance Markets Association, Committee Rendezvous, April 2008
· "Reinsurance Claims: Insights from Outside Counsel," Client CLE Presentation, February 26, 2008
· "Trust Litigation: Risk Management for Trustees - the Litigator's Perspective," Mid-Winter Estate Planning Clinic, February 9, 2008
· "Logistics of Document Discovery," Foley & Lardner LLP, June 28, 2007
· "Practical Guidance on Avoiding the Consequences of Wording Disputes," Brokers & Reinsurance Markets Association, Committee Rendezvous, March 2007