Insurance Recovery, Litigation & Counseling

Accidents, natural disasters, and lawsuits may not only adversely impact your profitability—they could significantly impair your business operations. Our Insurance Recovery, Litigation & Counseling team assists corporate policyholders in recovering assets under various business insurance policies as quickly and efficiently as possible so they can get back to business.

We are well versed in representing corporate policyholders, and have secured billions of dollars in insurance both by judgment and settlement. We also help assess potential risks, analyze new insurance products, and consider the adequacy of insurance programs. Our insurance practitioners are also skilled in drafting and implementing procedures to best position our clients for insurance recovery.

Because we have litigated coverage for clients in state, federal, and appellate courts across the country, we have built a network of local counsel who partner with us to quickly and efficiently resolve disputes. We also frequently handle international insurance arbitrations to help policyholders recover money owed by international insurers. When insurers try to avoid their obligations, our team possesses unparalleled experience in negotiation and, if necessary, litigation against delinquent insurers. We also have extensive experience counseling on broker malpractice, captive formation, and management.

Insurance Recovery, Litigation & Counseling Litigation Fast Facts

Twenty-one lawyers dedicated to insurance recovery working nationwide
Four partners ranked in Chambers USA
Ranked Tier 1 by Chambers USA in New Jersey
Handles insurance litigation and counseling related to any type of business coverage

Areas of Focus

Product liability/mass tort insurance disputes
Environmental insurance coverage disputes
Business interruption coverage disputes
D&O and fiduciary liability coverage disputes
Construction and construction defect coverage disputes
International insurance arbitration
Assist clients in the procurement of insurance
Errors, omissions, and malpractice disputes
Employment liability coverage disputes
Food and beverage coverage disputes
Insurance broker malpractice disputes
Advertising injury and intellectual property coverage disputes

Argued the cause for amici curiae in a cyber insurance recovery claim involving a multinational pharmaceutical company before the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division. We convinced the Court that the war exclusion in an all-risk property policy is inapplicable to a cyberattack on a non-military company, even if it originated from a government or sovereign power. The court agreed that the exclusion’s plain language requires the involvement of military action. The insurers, therefore, were required to pay the $1.4 billion in damages under the “all-risk” policies.

Complete victory in the defense of Transamerica Corporation in a dispute with a former subsidiary (IMO Industries) regarding $1.5 billion in insurance coverage. Transamerica had purchased insurance for itself and its subsidiaries as part of a consolidated risk management approach. After a six-month trial, the court ruled in Transamerica’s favor on all claims against it, entering declaratory judgment that Transamerica’s decades-old divesture agreement left its former subsidiary liable for its own asbestos losses. The court rejected that Transamerica was responsible for deductibles, retentions or gaps in insurance coverage or was effectively transformed into a “de facto” insurer because of its risk management efforts. The Appellate Division upheld all of the trial court’s rulings and the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed and ordered costs be paid in Transamerica’s favor.

Obtained a jury trial win in New Mexico for a subsidiary of a Fortune 50 manufacturer as an Insured in uranium mining environmental contamination coverage claims made against multiple insurers. Secured favorable settlements on appeal.

Achieved multiple wins for the largest retailers' cooperative group of supermarkets in the nation following Superstorm Sandy. Obtained a $15.6 million unanimous jury award against Wakefern’s former insurance consultants for having improperly advised on Wakefern’s property insurance policy’s deductible; the award was upheld by the New Jersey Appellate Division against one broker (and the other settled on a confidential basis during trial). The jury’s verdict followed entry of $4.7 million awards against Wakefern’s insurer for failing to pay Wakefern’s inventory losses at their full sales price and for improperly taking a “make-up” credit to which it was not entitled against Wakefern’s business interruption losses. Wakefern ultimately settled, on a confidential basis, the remaining insurer claims shortly before trial.

Represented a captive of a global petroleum corporation in a New York Commercial Division litigation against defendant insurers over their respective shares of $50 million of total loss coverage for catastrophic damages suffered at an oil platform facility located in Norway’s North Sea after it was struck by a large marine vessel.

Represent Canadian client in connection with regulatory obligations under New Jersey’s Industrial Site Recovery Act for pipe manufacturing facility and in coverage litigation for indemnity in connection with cleanup of groundwater at facility.

Represented New Jersey school board in connection with liability claims concerning an energy procurement contract that went wrong and prevailed on partial summary judgment leading to favorable settlement.

Represented New York car dealer in litigation with its property insurer over the loss of hundreds of cars as a result of Superstorm Sandy and reached favorable settlement.

Represented Pennsylvania energy company and its officers and directors in a claim under a Directors & Officers insurance policy related to a disputed investment strategy and obtained a favorable settlement following mediation.

Secured defense and indemnity coverage for a regional fuel transportation company in regulatory and litigated matters involving the New Cassel Industrial Area Superfund Site in New York.

Represented a Florida electric utility as an Additional Insured in a matter involving insurance coverage and contractual indemnity claims related to a gas pipeline incident. Obtained partial summary judgment and settled the matter favorably for our client.

Regularly represent a Fortune 500 corporation and its affiliates in connection with additional insured coverage claims for bodily injuries allegedly suffered by various claimants at construction sites. Our representation includes counseling and litigation for the client in those instances where matters progress to coverage and/or bad faith disputes .

Secured dismissal of an intermediary in a New Jersey federal court action and related court-ordered mediation arising from a series of complex insurance and reinsurance transactions involving multiple parties and related disputes in Brazil and New York.

Counseled in connection with settlement under a “management and company liability” policy for putative class actions alleging false advertising.

Resolved multitude of additional insured claims arising from bodily injuries to construction workers and property damage at developments.

Settled coverage claim under professional liability policy arising out of malpractice action.

Litigating complex liability coverage matter arising from asbestos and silica lawsuits relating to the manufacture of pneumatic tools.