Julie A. Lierly focuses her practice on commercial litigation with an emphasis on insurance coverage disputes on behalf of policyholders. She has more than fourteen years' experience representing policyholders in insurance coverage matters, related indemnity matters, and other commercial disputes. Ms. Lierly has helped clients recover insurance proceeds through negotiation, mediation and other forms of ADR and litigation throughout the United States. She has handled a broad range of insurance coverage disputes involving commercial general liability policies, excess policies, directors and officers policies, builder's risk policies, construction-related and other specialized or manuscripted policies, property insurance policies, professional and other liability insurance policies, fidelity bonds, bankers and mortgage company professional liability policies, environmental policies, and employment liability policies. Ms. Lierly has had extensive experience dealing with a variety of claims including Fair Credit Reporting Act claims, bankruptcy-related claims, bankers and mortgage company professional liability claims, fidelity bond claims, so-called "construction defect" claims, property damage claims, bodily injury claims, advertising injury claims, "errors and omissions" claims, intellectual property claims, junk fax, data security, internet, and other technology-related claims, product liability claims, environmental claims, employment liability claims, and asbestos, silica, and other "toxic tort" claims. She also has handled numerous disputes involving allocation, "additional insured," "other insurance," "priority of payments," and "bad faith" issues and has assisted her clients in developing effective risk management/insurance programs.
Ms. Lierly also has advised clients regarding insurance and indemnification issues in corporate transactions and liability situations or litigation to help to minimize losses and maximize the potential for insurance recovery and indemnification from third parties.
In 2011, Ms. Lierly was recommended in the area of Insurance by Legal 500 US.
Professional & Community Activities
American Bar Association, Member of Tort and Insurance Practice Section and Litigation Section Insurance Coverage Subcommittee
Clerkships
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa - Honorable Mark W. Bennett
Experience
Environmental litigation for natural gas distributor, Served as amicus counsel to a natural gas distributor in successfully persuading the Georgia Court of Appeals to reverse a trial court's decision that had barred coverage for a natural gas accident on the basis of a standard pollution exclusion. The Court of Appeals held, to the contrary, that natural gas was not a "pollutant," the worker's injuries did not "arise out of" the discharge of a pollutant where the pollutant was not the "but for" cause of the injuries, and it would violate public policy to sell a liability policy to a natural gas company that excluded coverage for natural gas accidents.
Construction litigation for residential construction company, The firm serves as lead counsel for a large residential construction company in several so-called "construction defect" coverage cases arising out of class action litigation pending in California. Cases are pending.
Insurance coverage claims for a site development company, Represented a site development company on insurance claims arising from lawsuits involving its building products in various jurisdictions, including Florida, Alabama, and California. The cases in Alabama and California were settled. The case in Florida is pending.
Banker's professional liability policy recovery for ABS Liquidating Trustee of Commercial Financial Services, Represented ABS Liquidating Trustee of Commercial Financial Services ("CFS") and successfully recovered the limits of the banker's professional liability policy from the insurance carrier in a bankruptcy suit where the debtor sought to obtain insurance coverage for claims asserted against it in bankruptcy. CFS had securitized pools of bad debt, including unsecured credit card consumer debt, for which it then served as servicing and collection agent.
Insurance litigation for a construction joint venture, Represented a construction joint venture that served as the construction manager for a convention center, in a series of claims arising out of an all-risk builders risk policy issued as part of an owner-controlled insurance program.
Insurance claims counsel for manufacturer of packaged building materials and pavement maintenance products, Serves as lead counsel for insurance claims arising from miscellaneous pending and threatened building material claims against a manufacturer of packaged building materials and pavement maintenance products in various jurisdictions.
Insurance claim arising from a wrongful death lawsuit, Represented a U.S. architectural and construction building products company on insurance claims arising from a wrongful death lawsuit pending against it in Broward County, Florida. The plaintiff worked as a wire drawing machine operator and was killed while operating a wire drawing machine. The court granted summary judgment in favor of our client and this decision was affirmed on appeal. The case was dismissed in 2008.
Dickies Industrial Services Inc. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., et al., Represented Dickies Manufacturing Co., at the time the largest privately-owned apparel company in the United States, in an environmental coverage case arising out of Dickies' former dry-cleaning operations at facilities in College Park, Georgia; Odessa, Texas and other locations. Dickies brought an action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, in which the Court issued a decision finding a duty to indemnify and rejecting the carrier's "voluntary payments" and "late notice" defense. The case was then tried on the issue of damages, and settled favorably during the pendency of the carrier's appeal to the Eleventh Circuit. The trial court decisions are reported at 14-1 Mealey's Poll. Liab. Rep. 24 (2000) and 13-23 Mealey's Litig. Rep. Ins. 3 (1999).
Dickies Indus. Services Inc. v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., Case No. 1:97-CV-1391-WBH (N.D. Ga.); 14-1 Mealey's Poll. Liab. Rep. 24 (2000) and 13-23 Mealey's Litig. Rep. Ins. 3 (1999).
Insurance coverage litigation for large pharmaceutical outsourcing company, Represented the largest outsourcing company for the pharmaceutical industry, in connection with a claim against its carrier arising out of a suit by a large number of participants in a phase IV trial of a pharmaceutical drug, where two of the investigators had been convicted of fraud and scientific misconduct in connection with the clinical trials. Federal and Chubb brought a declaratory judgment action against client regarding a manuscripted healthcare policy in the Northern District of Georgia and our client counterclaimed against Federal and Chubb for breach of contract, declaratory relief and bad faith. Related litigation was filed in the United States District Court for Middle District of North Carolina. The case eventually settled on a confidential basis.
Insurance litigation for major North American bottled water company, Represented a major North American bottled water corporation in a lawsuit against one of its insurance carriers for breach of its Employment Practices Liability Policy and a declaratory judgment that the insurance company must indemnify the bottled water corporation pursuant to that policy for money paid in settlement and defense costs incurred by the bottled water corporation in an underlying suit against it alleging age discrimination and wrongful termination, among other claims. The firm successfully resolved the case through a confidential settlement and dismissal of all claims.
*Experience gained by attorney prior to joining Kilpatrick Townsend
Publications
01 April 2011, Professional Liability Insurance Coverage
Source: Construction Insurance (American Bar Association 2011), Books
09 March 2011, The Georgia Supreme Court Holds That Defective Construction Constitutes an "Occurrence" Under A CGL Insurance Policy as Long as the Resulting Damage or Injury is Neither Expected nor Intended, Legal Alerts
News
11 May 2012, Kilpatrick Townsend and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Create 2nd Edition of Comprehensive Legal Manual for Litigating International Child Abduction Cases Under the Hague Convention, News Releases
09 September 2011, Kilpatrick Townsend Featured in Practical Law Journal for the Launch of its Insurance Policies and Coverage Toolkit, News Releases
15 June 2011, Kilpatrick Townsend Recognized by Prestigious 2011 Legal 500 US, News Releases
Events
04 May 2011, Construction Law Seminar: Insurance to Manage Risks and Resolve Claims, Events
05 May 2010, Construction Law Seminar: You've Paid the Premiums: Now Do You Have Any Coverage?, Events