Marc E. Isserles, Esq. is a skilled commercial mediator with 20 years of litigation experience handling complex business disputes.
Mr. Isserles regularly mediates insurance coverage disputes, as well as commercial disputes involving insurance coverage issues. As a result, he has a keen understanding of how insurance issues impact the negotiation and settlement dynamics, and is well-versed in the substantive issues that frequently arise in insurance cases.
A former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, and a founding partner of a top New York City litigation boutique, Mr. Isserles brings to his mediation practice the skills of both a nuanced legal thinker and seasoned litigator. Mr. Isserles is known for his judicious temperament, thorough preparation, and ability to quickly grasp both sides of a complicated issue while keeping an open mind. Mr. Isserles is a Lecturer in Law in the Negotiation Workshop at Columbia Law School.
Insurance Area Expertise and Qualifications
- CGL, D&O, E&O, umbrella, and excess policy issues
- Additional insured coverage issues and “other insurance” clauses
- Causation and “arising out of” issues
- Notice
- Aggregate limits
- Choice of law
- Claims made issues
- Duty to defend vs. duty to indemnify
- Bad faith allegations
- Allocation of Indemnity and defense costs among multiple insurers
- Reinsurance allocation issues
- Interpretation and scope of insuring clauses
- Interpretation and scope of key policy exclusions
- Number of occurrences
- Trigger of coverage
- Primary level exhaustion and relationship with umbrella/excess levels
- Reservation of rights and/or disclaimer of coverage; conflicts between insured and insurer
- Deductible and SIR issues
- Advertising injury and IP claims
- Issues arising out of multiple insurance towers
Representative Insurance Mediations and Arbitrations
- Mediated insurance dispute between insurer and insureds over insurer’s obligation to make payments under policy prior to insured’s resolution of contractual indemnification claim
- Mediated class action brought by life insurance policy holders over allegedly improper cost of insurance charges
- Arbitrated dispute between malpractice carrier and insured over duty to defend and informed consent policy exclusion
- Co-mediated multimillion dollar malpractice action against law firm in connection with coverage advice given to insurance carrier in property damage litigation arising out of a major construction accident
- Co-mediated multi-party insurance coverage dispute arising out of $1 billion proposed class action settlement of tort claims
- Co-mediated insurance coverage dispute between primary and excess carriers over allocation of settlement
- Co-mediated coverage dispute arising out of settlement of products liability claims brought against major manufacturer following a fire