Insurance

One of our most active practice areas is in the field of insurance coverage, a practice that developed as a result of our involvement in the defense of companies whose insurance carriers denied coverage for the litigation. We have represented corporate policyholders in disputes with their carriers over insurance coverage under comprehensive general liability, directors and officers, and errors and omissions policies. We also have experience in the field of reinsurance. We have had considerable success in obtaining coverage for our clients.

Our experience in insurance coverage litigation includes representation of:

• several former manufacturers of asbestos products in suits for coverage with respect to both asbestos bodily and property damage claims.


• diverse manufacturers for coverage of environmental actions arising from spills or other alleged pollution.


• a Lloyds of London brokerage firm in a reinsurance matter involving hundreds of millions of dollars in premiums, where our client’s broker had wrongfully stated that he had obtained reinsurance in the London Market but had not in fact done so.


• a real estate company in a business interruption claim arising out of an office building tower fire.


• a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company in connection with claims for coverage for the phen-fen diet drug litigation and for personal injury actions in connection with a blood clotting concentrate administered to hemophiliacs that has been linked to transmission of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).


• a large international cement manufacturer in several major coverage actions, including one for a ground water pollution claim starting more than thirty years ago at one of the manufacturer’s cement plants located in California; one to recover costs of major litigation over allegedly defective cement used to create concrete railroad ties installed throughout the Northeast; and finally in a claim for coverage regarding the alleged failure of a pipeline running from California to Texas.


• lawyers and accountants in Pennsylvania seeking coverage under their professional liability policies, including, for instance, a former president of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association, against whom a $1.8 million jury verdict had been rendered.


• a major manufacturer of construction products, whose directors and officers had been charged with securities law violations, in claims for insurance coverage under directors and officers policies.


• a major university’s health system in connection with coverage for a suit arising from the system’s acquisition and operation of a nursing-care facility.


• a manufacturer of chlorine and other industrial gases in connection with coverage for claims arising from a major fire at the company’s Georgia plant that resulted in the evacuation of the residents of surrounding homes and businesses.


• a company that holds patents relating to mobile telephone technology in connection with claims for coverage of Lanham act and related corporate defamation claims that the carriers contended were not covered because of the policy’s patent litigation exclusion.


• a Pennsylvania hospital in litigation to obtain excess insurance coverage for a multimillion dollar medical malpractice claim.


• a general contractor for an Atlantic City casino that suffered a garage collapse that caused fatalities during construction, to recover rebuild costs where the extent of coverage was disputed by the carrier.


• a labor union, to render advice in connection with a dispute with the carrier regarding whether or not the policy’s punitive damages exclusion bars claims for liquidated damages under the Drivers Privacy Protection Act.