Representative Complex Insurance Cases

The mediators and arbitrators in our Complex Insurance Practice Group have handled countless insurance matters of all types and sizes. Representative cases include:

Representative Matters: Mediations

• Mediated a complex dispute involving $100 million between multiple insurers regarding the apportionment of loss in relation to a construction risk with claims over a four-year period
• Mediated multiple “long tail” claims between an insured and multiple CGL carriers at both the primary and excess levels, including matters relating to underlying toxic tort suits and relating to head injuries in professional sports, resulting in resolutions encompassing both the payment of money as well as “cost-sharing” or “coverage in place” agreements
• Mediated multiple disputes between cedents and reinsurers regarding different types of risks, many involving either London-based or other off-shore insurers or re-insurance companies or syndicates, and mediated a multi-million dollar collection proceeding by an American insurer against a Mexican re-insurer and its parent corporations, raising issues of Mexican substantive law and procedure
• Mediated consolidated Directors & Officers (D&O) and securities class actions involving related domestic and international bankruptcy proceedings
• Mediated a $300 million professional indemnity dispute between a major Lloyds broker and a US company
• Mediated national coordinated environmental insurance coverage (“buy back”) action by railroad of its longstanding insurance program of primary and excess coverage by multiple insurers for losses at more than 600 environmentally contaminated sites throughout the United States
• Mediated a complex, multi-party environmental dispute with multiple allocation issues among parties with insurance coverage/partial coverage and no coverage with down-gradient contribution claims and related issues involving leaking underground storage of petroleum products including matrix analysis for fair allocation among primary and excess carriers and insured’s multiple self-insured retentions under various policies
• Mediated a major medical health care insurance claim dispute involving hospital, medical insurance providers, and corporate employer with coverage and authorization issues
• Mediated cases between London market underwriters and California insureds involving theft of art works
• Mediated a multi-million dollar claim by company insured against trade association carrier regarding environmental damage under 25-year-old policies. Issues included policy existence and terms, claims handling, pollution exclusion, owned property, expected/intended versus sudden/accidental, other carrier partial payment
• Multi-day mediation of 60+ party coverage coordination by diverse defendants related to Fen-Phen
• Mediated a claim by directors and officers of holding company that their insurer’s refusal, on grounds of fraud, to cover losses incurred in settling litigation constituted a bad faith breach of insurance policy
• Mediation of multiple claims alleging malpractice of insured doctors and lawyers in which insurers disputed liability, causation, extent of damages, and/or coverage
• Mediation of $50 million claim by leading managed care provider against its liability insurer for partial reimbursement of sums paid to settle national class action brought against provider by subscribers alleging improper denial of healthcare claims. Mediated settlement of a dispute between a major oil company and its CGL insurer involving documentation and reasonableness of past environmental defense costs and instituting protocol for submission and approval of future costs
• Mediated settlement of claims for coverage under a corporate kidnapping and ransom policy, arising out of attempted prison escape and hostage taking which resulted in two-week prison standoff and injuries to hostages and prison personnel
• Mediated settlement of complex international insurance dispute involving coverage for extensive losses incurred through a multi-year criminal scheme diverting goods from warehouses during the course of international shipment; settlement required not only the resolution of coverage claims between the policyholder and the insurance carriers, but also settlement of the allocation dispute among the carriers
• Mediated settlement of coverage claims asserted by holding company against various insurance carriers arising out of the company’s asbestos liabilities; settlement resulted in a comprehensive resolution of all claims against all carriers under whose policies claims had been asserted, and a multiyear schedule of payments by the carriers to the policyholder totaling in excess of $400 million
• Mediated coverage case arising from the collapse of the floor of a Las Vegas casino night club
• Mediated complicated first party $32M property loss claim arising from a hospital facility’s complex steam piping system
• Mediated case involving the insurance coverage for golf course landslides
• Mediated settlement of coverage claims asserted by major oil company against various insurers seeking reimbursement under numerous CGL policies, stretching back many decades into the past, for the costs of environmental cleanup at hundreds of contaminated sites nationwide; settlements were achieved in separate mediations with individual insurance carriers over the course of a year
• Mediated settlement of dispute between insurance broker and corporate policyholder arising out of the disallowance of tax benefits for a complex program involving corporate owned life insurance policies
• Mediated a $130 million negligence claim against a broker seeking to recover losses arising from a property damage and business interruption claim following a fire at an oil refinery

Representative Matters: Arbitrations

• Arbitrated a dispute involving multiple coverage claims stemming from construction of the $400 million Detroit Lions Ford Stadium. Involved professional liability coverage for 20 design professionals, settlement without consent, unilateral policy amendment
• International arbitration of claim by satellite radio service for $80 million payment by its satellite insurer on account of alleged failure of two satellites to function properly
• Arbitration panel for two hospitals' $20+ million contract/statutory claim against a major insurer regarding claim-handling procedures and determinations
• Arbitrated large insurance case arising out of hurricane Katrina between insurance companies and hospitals, involving choice of law between Pennsylvania and Louisiana law and a disputed number of occurrences regarding multiple deaths at various hospitals during the flooding
• Arbitrated business interruption claim resulting from Hurricane Katrina under commercial and property damage insurance policy
• Arbitrated claim to insurance proceeds of policy insuring against adverse consequences of Internal Revenue Service audit of deductions for contributions to premiums paid by an employer to a life insurance plan covering certain employees
• Arbitrated claims to damages under Bermuda form excess insurance policy covering mass tort actions alleging product liability of a pharmaceutical manufacturer involving questions of what the manufacturer ”expected” as “intended” the claims to be
• Arbitration involving Insured-educational institutions v. D&O Insurer (for costs incurred in defense of arbitrations brought by former students; defense based on exclusion for "professional services")
• Arbitration brought by insured against insurer on a Fiscal Event Insurance Policy insuring against the risk of loss of tax deductions for premiums paid on life insurance policies purchased by corporate insured
• Arbitration brought by insured and insurer for declaration of liability and damages arising out of lawsuit against corporate directors; application of various exclusions (director v. director, among others)

Representative Matters: Neutral Analysis

• As a §638 Special Master, obtained neutral supervised settlement in excess of $2.0 million in 17-party single-family home matter involving: insurance coverage and non-coverage issues of original builder, triple-tier ownership, prior owner’s remodeling contractors disputes, claims between brokers, construction defect and termite inspection/repair claims, and insurance coverage for trust successor in interest to seller on allegations of active fraud
• Service as special master to determine the appropriate measure of damages for multiple property damage and business interruption claims brought by five casualty insurers against municipality found liable for flooding of several retail buildings
• Assisted state insurance agency in court-ordered rehabilitation to resolve litigation involving 3000-member statewide workers comp self-insurance program.
• Neutral case evaluation of $160 million of claims and counterclaims between Health Care Financing Administration and two national group health insurers concerning provisions of the Medicare as Secondary Payor Act