Our main goal is to identify cost-effective ways in which to resolve complex claim situations, drawing on the decades of experience that the attorneys in our group possess. We frequently review insurer claims files for purposes of rendering legal opinions regarding coverage. Our attorneys have often been asked to either review or draft reservation of rights and declination of coverage correspondence on behalf of insurers.
In addition, the expertise of the firm in both occurrence and claims-made forms, coupled with our experience in trials of underlying claims and defending insurer positions in coverage litigation, has positioned the firm’s practice group to provide assistance to underwriters in drafting, revising and evaluating policy wording. The firm’s insurance expertise is broadly based, including general liability, hospital and physician professional liability, professional errors and omissions, directors and officers, employment practices liability, umbrella and excess coverage, all risk, and environmental impairment coverage. The firm’s marine group has extended the insurance practice group’s expertise to include ship-repairer’s legal liability, protection and indemnity, charterers’ liability and hull coverage.
The firm’s attorneys have provided counsel to insurers on occurrence and date of loss issues, claims made and notice of circumstance issues, the application of various exclusions, interpretation of property damage, limits of liability and aggregates, “other insurance” and allocation issues, late notice defenses, claims cooperation and control disputes, “bad faith” claims, products and completed operations coverage issues, and additional insured questions.
Most importantly, in providing counsel our attorneys focus not only on the legal issues but on the practical issues, working with underwriters to formulate coverage position strategies that are realistic and targeted to the goals of both protecting insurer exposures and preserving relationships with policyholders.
In light of our office’s extensive claims experience as both monitoring counsel and as front-line trial counsel in venues throughout the United States, we are capable of providing in-depth risk assessment of prospective and renewal accounts. This expertise has been applied to pre-underwriting reviews, including an analysis of an insured’s operations, quality control efforts, general defense strategy and assessment of individual claim and loss exposure and reviews of ground-up reserves. Such reviews also explore and examine past coverage disputes so that underwriters can appreciate the nature of the insured’s operations and identify in advance potential coverage issues before the policy incepts.
We have worked with clients on a variety of complex coverage issues including:
- Acting as national counsel for London market exposure leaders in asbestos coverage litigation
- Acting as coverage and litigation counsel for various foreign insurers in litigation involved environmental risks
- Representing foreign reinsurer in connection with its ceding of environmental claims to its retrocessionaires on multi million dollar account involving utility company exposures.
- Litigating in Minnesota, on behalf of a foreign excess insurer
- Litigating the applications of proper retro dates of coverage
- Presently litigating on behalf of excess insurer merits of advertising injury coverage
- Acting as coverage and litigation counsel regarding coverage for breast implant litigation
- Acting as coverage and litigation counsel regarding anti trust coverage litigation
- Acting as coverage and litigation counsel regarding coverage for punitive damages in litigation
- Acting as coverage and litigation counsel for domestic insurer involved in heating system litigation
- Providing coverage opinions and analysis for domestic insurer’s E&O claims unit
- Providing coverage opinions and advice for various domestic insurers regarding coverage for construction defect litigation and regarding the scope of additional insured coverage
