Practice Areas & Industries: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview
The insurance professionals at Manatt represent major life, health, disability, accidental death and dismemberment, travel, long-term care and property and casualty insurance companies in a range of insurance litigation, regulatory and transactional work.  Our attorneys have successfully represented clients in investment matters, litigation (including coverage disputes), bad faith claims, ERISA litigation reinsurance disputes and investment recovery matters and a broad range of regulatory matters, including the licensing, acquisition and regulation of life, health and property-casualty insurers and related entities, market conduct matters, product development and filing issues and insolvency and liquidation matters.

Services Available

Areas of Specialization:

INSURANCE FINANCE AND INVESTMENT
We represent life and casualty insurance companies in a wide variety of finance and investment activities, including:

• Traditional financing vehicles;
  • Private placements
  • Mortgage loans
  • Equipment financing
• Secured and unsecured loans, including senior and subordinated acquisition financing;
• Equity investments, including venture capital and second stage investments;
• Restructuring existing transactions;
• Workouts and bankruptcies of nonperforming assets, including defaulted bond issues administered by third-party trustees;
• Lease financing, including net leases, synthetic leases and capital leases;
• Structured finance, including asset securitization;
• Project finance;
• Institutional real estate equity investments; and
• Representing insurance companies in the formation of, or in marketing alliances with, depository financial institutions and in the creation of banking subsidiaries and other ventures permitted under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

INSURANCE LITIGATION
Manatt attorneys have represented life, health, disability and accident insurance companies in bad faith and ERISA litigation, sales practices litigation and agency and employment litigation.

In addition, they have handled disputes regarding first-party property and casualty insurance, professional liability insurance, directors and officers insurance, errors and omissions insurance, import-export insurance, failed investments insurance, political risk insurance, as well as specialized sports and entertainment insurance.

Manatt attorneys have also represented major insurance companies in some of the largest CGL coverage litigation in California and elsewhere. They have successfully obtained summary adjudication on coverage claims in the hundreds of millions of dollars and helped to shape the law on some of the most important coverage issues presented in recent years, including coverage for environmental administrative costs and coverage for accelerated asbestos liabilities emerging from 524(g) bankruptcies.  They have litigated cases of first impression involving the meaning of the terms “damages,” “expenses” and “ultimate net loss” in standard primary and umbrella policies.  They have also helped form the blueprint for legal decisions rejecting the use of the bankruptcy code to trigger present coverage for prospective long-tail asbestos liabilities.

In the administrative litigation area, Manatt has represented insurers before state insurance departments on matters involving consumer complaints and allegations of unfair claims settlement practices.

INSURANCE REGULATION
Representation of insurers in connection with various insurance regulatory matters, including:

• Formation, acquisition and licensing of insurers;
• Filing of policy forms for life/health/pc monoline insurers;
• Acquisition of subsidiaries by insurers;
• Financial and market conduct examinations;
• Insurance holding company matters and intercompany transactions and agreements; compliance advice re: articles of incorporation and bylaws;
• Administrative service and investment management agreements;
• Investment restrictions and limitations;
• Derivative use plan development;
• Expense allocation plan development;
• Agent compensation matters;
• Agent, broker and adjuster licensing;
• Excess and surplus lines licensing and regulation;
• Not-for-profit health insurer and health maintenance organization regulation;
• Fraternal benefit society regulation;
• Financial guaranty insurer regulation;
• Mortgage guaranty insurer regulation;
• Advice to insurers re: advertising, sales and consumer literature;
• Compliance with insurance fraud prevention requirements;
• Consumer complaint regulatory advice;
• Variable life and annuity products, including product filings and separate account plan filings;
• Design and implementation of new insurance products;
• Reinsurance matters and pooling arrangements;
• Self-insurance and captive insurer programs;
• Insurer insolvency, liquidation and rehabilitation matters; and
• State Attorney General inquiries re: insurance matters.

FEDERAL AND STATE LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATION

• Legislative monitoring, analysis, and representation in connection with federal and state insurance regulatory initiatives;
• Representation of insurance industry participants before Congress, federal and state administrative and executive agencies, and insurance departments;
• Creation and implementation of comprehensive legislative strategies, including:
  • Liaison with and organization of similarly situated companies or industry groups;
  • Preparation of briefing memoranda and position papers for submission to legislators and other government officials; and
  • Presentations to key legislators, committees, and executive branch officials and their staffs.

MANAGED CARE
Our insurance attorneys combine their resources with those of our healthcare attorneys on behalf of insurers, managed care organizations, and healthcare providers with respect to:

• Structuring of managed care plans, physician practices and health facilities transactions, including related corporate, tax, and regulatory work;
• Contractual arrangements between insurers and healthcare providers; and
• General representation with respect to healthcare, managed care, and insurance regulatory compliance.

Clients:
Aflac, Alea North America Insurance Company, Allstate Life Insurance Company, Allstate Life Insurance Company of New York, American Council of Life Insurers, American Heritage Life Insurance Company, AON Corporation, Blue Shield of California, Centre Life Insurance Company, Chase Insurance Life Company, f/k/a Zurich Life Insurance Company, f/k/a Zurich Kemper Life Insurance Company, CUNA Mutual Insurance Group, Cunningham Lindsey U.S., C.V. Starr & Co., Inc./Starr Underwriting, Farmer's Group, Inc., Financial Guaranty Insurance Company, First Berkshire Hathaway Life Insurance Company, First Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, GE Insurance Solutions, General Electric Capital Corporation, Glenbrook Life and Annuity Company, Global Excess Partners LLC, Great American Insurance Companies , Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, Group Health Inc., Hartford Life Insurance Company , HealthMarkets, Inc., Hereford Insurance Company, John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York, Liberty Life Insurance Company/RBC Insurance, LifeComp Holdings Inc., Life Investors Insurance Company of America, Lincoln Benefit Life Insurance Company, Manulife Financial, MBIA Insurance Corporation, MCIS, Metropolitan Life and Annuity Company, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee, Monumental Life Insurance Company, National Health Insurance Company, National Indemnity Company (a Berkshire Hathaway company), National Interstate Insurance Company, National Title Insurance Company of New York, OM Financial Life Insurance Company, f/k/a Fidelity and Guaranty Life Insurance Company, Peoples Benefit Life Insurance Company, PMI Mortgage Insurance Company, Protective Life Insurance Company, ReliaStar Life Insurance Company, State Compensation Insurance Fund, Stonebridge Life Insurance Company (formerly JCPenney Life Insurance Company), The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company, The Medical Protective Company, The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company, The Mercer Insurance Group, Transamerica Life and Annuity Company, Inc., Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Company, Veterans Life Insurance Company