Practice Areas & Industries: Jenner & Block LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Lawyers in Jenner & Block's Insurance Litigation and Counseling Practice advise policyholders on insurance coverage issues and represent policyholders in disputes with their insurers. We have represented corporate policyholders seeking to enforce insurance coverage for a variety of losses from asbestos, mold, lead, solvent, hearing loss, plastic plumbing and a variety of other product-liability and premises-operations claims under third-party liability insurance; from natural disasters like the recent hurricanes, business interruption, construction defects, and other losses under first-party property insurance; from employment and public-accommodations claims under employment practices insurance; and other claims under a variety of insurance coverages.

Jenner & Block's insurance coverage lawyers have succeeded in obtaining millions of dollars in settlements for our policyholder clients. Our success in settlement derives not only from our experience in insurance coverage issues, but also from our success in litigation.

Our nationally recognized litigators and insurance coverage lawyers concentrate on insurance coverage problems of all kinds, with particular emphasis on:

• Directors and officers coverage
• First-party property insurance, including business-interruption insurance
• Products liability coverage, including insurance coverage for toxic tort and other multiple party claims
• Disaster coverage
• Business tort and intellectual property claim coverage
• Environmental insurance coverage
• Professional liability coverage
• Fidelity insurance
• Problems with insolvent insurers

We also have a thorough understanding of the special problems involved in litigating with Lloyd's of London and other London insurers derived from our extensive experience in prosecuting major coverage cases against London Market insurers.

Services Available

Jenner & Block's resources and experience allow us to pursue litigation of insurance claims nationwide in the forum most favorable or convenient to our clients. Our practice has successfully resolved insurance coverage disputes in state and federal courts in, among other places, Illinois, Michigan, New York, California, Delaware, New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Missouri, Virginia, Maryland, Maine, the District of Columbia, Louisiana and Wyoming.

We also have represented policyholders in coverage disputes in arbitrations in the United States and abroad. Our insurance arbitration experience includes arbitration of disputes, from initial demand for arbitration, through trial, or final "hearing," under the Bermuda Form which calls for arbitration of disputes in London under the English Arbitration Act.

Because insurance coverage law is fast developing and varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, we have created our own continuously updated coverage library.

We have accumulated a wide range of historical information and documentation concerning the drafting history and development of standard insurance policy forms commonly in use from 1950 to the present.

We also have developed our own computer software programs to assist in various aspects of insurance coverage litigation matters. These programs allow us to:

• Create detailed budget proposals and projections for insurance coverage litigation.

• Assist our clients in providing notice of claims to insurers and tracking and responding to the insurers' responses.

• Identify, organize and retrieve those insurance policy provisions most significant to the type of claim at issue.

• Create coverage charts that graphically illustrate our clients' insurance programs and identify critical differences in coverage from one policy period to the next.

• Create, analyze and evaluate settlement possibilities with insurers based on their levels and amounts of coverage, the years in which they provided coverage and the key provisions of their policies.

We also offer our clients advice and counseling on insurance coverages and forms in order to maximize insurance protection and avoid litigation. Our practice is experienced in working with insurance brokers in identifying potential problem areas in proposed policies and providing advice and assistance in negotiating policy issues with underwriters.

We believe insurance coverage litigation strategy should be carefully conceived and applied in a manner designed to accomplish our clients' objectives in the most cost-effective manner. Our practice has the capacity and litigation support resources to handle everything from complex multi-party cases to straightforward two-party disputes.