Insurance Coverage
We have strong and long lasting relationships with several of the country's largest insurance companies including Fireman's Fund Insurance Company (since before 1980), CNA Financial (since 1974), and Old Republic Insurance Company (through Chicago Underwriting Group) (since 1990). We have handled these companies' largest coverage disputes in the D&O, E&O, asbestos, chemical exposure and environmental areas. These cases often have hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.
The cases we handle for these companies often lead to multi-week (and sometimes multi-phased) trials all over the country. Below is a listing of a few cases we have handled in the insurance coverage arena.
- We recently won an appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court on behalf of CNA in coverage litigation brought by U.S. Filter Corporation and Wheelabrator Technologies, Inc. in which they sought coverage under policies issued to previous owners of businesses whose activities gave rise to third-party silica claims. Following summary judgment and appeal, the Indiana Supreme Court ordered judgment in favor of insurers on a novel but increasingly important issue, holding that the plaintiffs, who were strangers to the policies in issue, did not succeed to any rights to coverage via the series of asset sales and transfers by which they acquired the businesses. The decision was a significant victory for the insurance industry, and established important precedent in the area of insurance coverage law that protects insurers’ rights to choose their insureds and protects insurers against multiplication of risk due to corporate transactions that occur after they issue policies. David E. Schoenfeld argued this case in the Supreme Court for CNA.
- We represented Fireman's Fund in coverage litigation brought by Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation arising out of underlying asbestos litigation. This case involved two trials. We won the first, a three-week bench trial involving policy interpretation issues. Eight weeks into the second, a jury trial on bad faith and disputed coverage issues, we were able to obtain a very favorable settlement for Fireman's Fund.
- We successfully defended Fireman's Fund in a major environmental insurance coverage lawsuit brought by the Dow Chemical Company involving the responsibility for clean-up and remediation costs at dozens of environmental waste sites at which Dow Chemical was a potentially responsible party. After a two-month jury trial, the case was settled on the eve of closing arguments on terms very favorable to Fireman's Fund and for a fraction of the costs claimed by Dow at trial.
- Following a nine-month bench trial in a multi-phased proceeding, we won a defense judgment on behalf of two Fireman's Fund subsidiaries in a coverage case brought by the Celotex Corporation. Celotex had alleged that the Fireman's Fund entities were responsible for defense and indemnity coverage exceeding $100 million for asbestos property damage claims filed against Celotex. The Bankruptcy Court — in one of the largest and most contentious asbestos Chapter 11 cases in U.S. history — rejected Celotex's claim in its entirety. This case is currently on appeal to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
- We represented Fireman's Fund in a suit by Dow Chemical against its insurers over coverage for damages caused by a Dow product called Sarabond (claimed damages exceeded $500 million). Dow had been sued by dozens of building owners after Sarabond, a mortar additive used to construct brick buildings, caused those buildings to crack and fail. Dow sought coverage for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, claiming that Fireman's Fund should provide coverage for dozens of buildings. After conducing discovery of the process by which Sarabond damaged buildings, the trial court conducted a three-day evidentiary hearing, considering facts related to several test buildings and testimony of construction experts from both sides, to determine how and when damage occurred. The trial court fashioned a formula for determining when damage occurred (and thus which policy, if any, would provide coverage). Applying this formula, only two of the buildings were found to have suffered damages during Fireman's Fund's coverage period.
- We represented Old Republic in Delaware state court in a rescission case based on misrepresentations in a policy application dealing with the insured's anticipated mergers and acquisitions.
- We obtained summary judgment in New York state court in favor of Old Republic against an insured based on the insured's settlement of an underlying claim without obtaining Old Republic's consent.
- We represented Old Republic in a coverage case in Atlanta federal court arising out of copyright and trademark litigation against a major publishing company and obtained a dismissal of Old Republic without any payment.
- We have represented Old Republic in numerous cases in which we obtained favorable settlements prior to litigation including in the following situations: (i) a case regarding alleged misappropriation of trade secrets by directors and officers of a bio-tech firm; (ii) allegations of bad faith against Old Republic in California regarding its handling of a claim involving a legal malpractice case arising out of an underlying medical malpractice case; (iii) a case involving the application of "interrelated wrongful acts" language arising out of claims against an insured involving a complex investment mechanism designed by the insured; (iv) numerous securities class actions; (v) a legal malpractice claim pending in Los Angeles arising out of the insured's alleged failure to obtain foreign patent protection for a client's ground-engaging construction equipment; and (vi) a legal malpractice claim pending in Los Angeles arising out of the insured's representation of a client in an inverse condemnation case.