Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Insurance Recovery

Anticipating and managing risk are critical to the success of any company, and most companies rely on insurance as a primary tool for doing so.  

Manatt’s insurance recovery lawyers assist corporate policyholders with all aspects of insurance coverage. Our goal is simple: we help clients secure the insurance protection they seek and capitalize on coverage when claims arise.

We represent clients at every phase of the insurance life cycle, including:

§         Evaluating Existing Coverage - Our lawyers counsel clients on the extent and effectiveness of existing coverage, which includes finding unintended “holes” in coverage. Identifying and correcting these issues before claims arise is a critical function we perform for our clients. 

§         Advising in the Placement of New or Renewed Coverage - We assist clients and their brokers in placing the most effective and comprehensive coverage possible. We often are involved in negotiating specific policy terms that expand coverage or narrow exclusionary language, and which thus provide greater security. 

§         Assessing and Preserving Potential Claims - When potentially covered claims arise, we provide clients with detailed analyses of the likelihood of obtaining coverage for those claims and how best to preserve them. If a client is contemplating a potential merger or acquisition, we provide advice regarding the availability of insurance coverage for liabilities they may be assuming. 

§         Securing Coverage When Disputes Arise - Our lawyers are experienced in crafting strategies to resolve coverage disputes. We have recovered billions of dollars of insurance proceeds through focused settlement negotiation, mediation, litigation, both at trial and on appeal nationwide. We recognize that delay hurts policyholders, and we design a customized approach to reach a prompt and successful resolution.  In many cases we are able to reach a favorable conclusion without the need for substantial litigation. However, when coverage disputes cannot be resolved through settlement or mediation, our lawyers aggressively pursue coverage through litigation and arbitration. Our victories have resulted in coverage for claims involving mass torts (including asbestos exposure and environmental contamination), class actions, shareholder derivative suits, breach of fiduciary duty, wrongful termination, negligent design and construction, false advertising, and trademark and copyright infringement, to name a few.

§         Bankruptcy - Our clients sometimes face overwhelming liabilities and must consider restructuring through Chapter 11 bankruptcy or otherwise.  In this context, insurance often is one of the debtor’s most significant assets and, consequently, insurance issues often are hotly disputed. We assist clients through all phases of the bankruptcy process, including critical pre-bankruptcy planning.  Our attorneys have been directly involved in some of the largest asbestos-related bankruptcies in the country, including a landmark ruling limiting insurer standing to object to a policyholder’s bankruptcy plan.

Representative Cases

We represent clients across a broad array of industry sectors in obtaining coverage under nearly every type of commercial insurance in the marketplace, including:

§         Dozens of companies in the pharmaceutical, petroleum, electrical, automotive, and manufacturing sectors seeking coverage for asbestos and environmental contamination claims, often totaling in the billions of dollars

§         Public and private pension plans seeking coverage under fiduciary liability policies

§         A pharmaceutical company in obtaining favorable, multimillion-dollar settlements for defense costs and settlements paid in class action litigation

§         The officers and directors of a large venture capital company in obtaining coverage for claims brought by individual investors

§         A telecommunications company in obtaining coverage for alleged wrongful termination claims

§         A software development company in obtaining full coverage arising out of allegations of negligent development of a complex billing program sold to its customers

§         A chemical manufacturer in obtaining full recovery, following a multiweek trial, of environmental remediation and defense costs at facilities in multiple states

§         A large real estate investment trust in obtaining coverage for property damage at shopping centers in California and Oregon

§         An employment staffing company in obtaining coverage for its directors and officers arising from allegations of improper solicitation of employees and use of confidential and proprietary information and breach of a noncompete agreement

§         Liquidated trusts of former engineering and construction companies and their directors in obtaining coverage for securities litigation, ERISA class action litigation, and a related government investigation

§         A manufacturer in obtaining coverage for alleged violations of the Lanham Act and unfair competition

§         A nutritional supplement company and its directors in obtaining coverage for claims involving the manufacturing and advertising of health supplement products

§         A nationwide real estate developer in obtaining coverage for property damage and construction defect claims at a premier resort

§         A garment manufacturer in obtaining coverage for copyright and trademark infringement

§         A major food manufacturer in negotiating a substantially broader scope of product recall coverage than previously had been available

Diversity at Manatt

Manatt considers diversity to be a fundamental component of our institutional identity. As a law firm, we have a professional responsibility, and as individuals, we have a personal responsibility to our respective communities. Incorporating diversity into our culture allows us to enhance the high-quality, creativity and excellence in legal services that our clients have come to expect.

Manatt has invested a significant amount of human and financial resources in our own diversity program. Our philosophy is simple: include women and minority lawyers at all levels of Firm leadership and promote diversity in the legal profession through our support and active involvement in various minority civic and bar organizations.

The mix of our minority and women attorneys has consistently exceeded the national average among the country's top law firms. Our talented mix includes minority and women lawyers serving as heads of offices, members of the firm's Board of Directors and management team, and chairs of some of the firm's most important practice groups.

Inclusive Culture
Our progressive culture allows us to maintain a growing mix of women and minority lawyers, and the results illustrate this commitment.  The American Lawyer ranked our Firm 29th (in the top 12%) on its Diversity Scorecard for the largest 250 law firms in the country for 2009.  Multi Cultural Law Magazine included our Firm on its 2008 lists of the Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity, Top 25 Law Firms for Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, and Top 25 Law Firms for Openly Gay/Lesbian Americans.

Despite our progress and diversity success, we can do better.  Our challenge extends far beyond exceeding national averages.  Our plan cannot succeed if we focus only on recruiting minority and women attorneys.  The true challenge and measure for achieving success lies in creating and preserving an inclusive environment where our minority and women lawyers will stay, progress, prosper and succeed.  We have implemented a formal diversity program designed to enhance our recruiting and retention of diverse attorneys through an executive mentoring program intended to cultivate personally and professionally meaningful relationships between our diverse lawyers and our partners. 

Our commitment to diversity exists in a living document – a plan – that is concrete, easy to understand and publicly available.  The plan demonstrates to every law school student, lateral associate candidate, lateral partner candidate, recruiter, existing client, and potential client that we are serious about creating a workplace that mirrors the breadth of the communities where we and our clients live and work.

We focus on the following key areas to accomplish our mission.

Targeted Recruitment Effort
At Manatt, recruiting women and minority attorneys does not end on law school campuses. Our recruiting efforts focus on locating talented women and minority lawyers at all levels. At law schools, we seek out and interview students who share our core values in ways shaped and enhanced by their own experience. Manatt's 2005 Summer Program was the most diverse in the Firm's history. Our nine 2005 Summer Associates included two African-American students, three Hispanic students, one Asian-American student and three Caucasian students. Five of these nine students were women.

Mentoring as a Cornerstone
Minority attorneys who join Manatt as new or lateral hires immediately become the focus of a mentoring program. They are paired with senior attorneys who take an active role in encouraging their career development. Mentors actively work with their protégés, helping them form business plans and involving them in firm-wide marketing and development opportunities. Management holds mentors accountable for their roles and their protégés' progress at the Firm, including reviewing their efforts as part of the evaluation and compensation process.

Access to Opportunity
Success is a matter of talent and opportunity. At Manatt, we believe that the key to retaining talented minority attorneys -- and therefore the key to the success of our diversity efforts -- is providing a distinctive experience that offers clear access to professional accomplishment. We provide women and minority attorneys with important responsibilities and leadership opportunities in client development activities, complex litigation, large transactional matters and high-profile community and civic organizations. We also encourage and support minority and women attorneys who take leadership positions within the firm and outside in the community at large.

Long-Term Commitment
We challenge ourselves to make our young lawyers feel valued, involved and invested in the future of the firm. We know that they will eventually occupy the most important financial, management and executive positions at Manatt. Our professionals thrive in an atmosphere that encourages and supports responsibility, ambition, and entrepreneurship. We offer true opportunity equal to individual commitment to success and advancement. That's the history of opportunity at Manatt, where professionals with talent and drive are rewarded with a nurturing, dynamic and energizing climate.

Promoting Diversity
Promoting diversity in the legal profession requires both an investment of money and time. Our women and minority attorneys are prominently involved and hold leadership positions in some of the most important minority civic and bar organizations in the country including:

• Asian Americans of Equality
• Asian Pacific American Legal Center
• Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association
• California Association of Black Lawyers
• California Black Chamber of Commerce
• California Women's Law Center
• Chilean Association of Attorneys
• D.C. Commission on Asian & Pacific Islander Affairs
• Hispanic National Bar Association
• Inner City Law Center
• International Human Rights Committee of the Association of the Bar of City of New York
• Korean American Bar Association
• Korean American Coalition
• L.A. Conservation Corps
• La Raza Galeria Posada
• Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
• Los Angeles Urban League
• National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
• NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund Board
• Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association
• The Association of Women in International Trade
• Women Lawyers Association
• Women's Bar Association of District of Columbia
• Women's Forum of Washington D.C.