BlogLine
4/22/22
Insurance
Legal solutions powered by industry understanding
Our insurance law team members are advisors and advocates for over a dozen carriers throughout the country including Hartford, Travelers, Nationwide, Colony and the Berkley Companies.
Our insurance law team members are advisors and advocates for over a dozen carriers throughout the country including Hartford, Travelers, Nationwide, Colony and the Berkley Companies. We have earned the trust of our clients through our consistent efforts to develop well-reasoned outcomes for insurance carriers in state and federal courts. Our team has handled insurance coverage litigation ranging from relatively minor declaratory judgment actions, to major inter-company disputes, to the defense of multi-million dollar bad faith claims. Each member of our team has actual litigation experience outside of the coverage world, so we know what it is like to face high dollar claims in the defense of product liability, professional liability and personal injury claims. This practical, real world experience helps us temper our advice with a dose of reality, which gives us an added edge in resolving claims that involve disputed liability as well as coverage questions.
Our representative cases include:
Collegiate Licensing Co. v. American Casualty Company of Reading, Pa., addressing the “First Filed Rule” to competing declaratory judgment actions in a complex insurance coverage matter
Cotton States Insurance Company v. Brightman, in which the Supreme Court of Georgia set forth the parameters of a “failure to settle” claim including the requirement that there be a demand within policy limits
Hoover v. Maxum Indem. Company, in which the Supreme Court of Georgia considered a bad faith failure to settle claim involving preservation of coverage defenses
Scottsdale Insurance Company v. Great American Assurance Company, which addressed coverage for indemnity agreements under the “insured contract” exception to the contractual liability exclusion in CGL policies
Maxum Indemnity Company v. Jimenez, which involved whether a contractual liability for a subcontractor’s pipe instillation was a covered “occurrence” under a CGL policy
North American Specialty Insurance Company. v. Pen Pals Productions, LLC, which applied the “mobile equipment” exclusions in a CGL policy issued to a movie production company
Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Company v. Dillard House, Inc., which resolved whether an exposure to Legionnaire’s disease was a covered occurrence under a CGL policy
Our attorneys have decades of experience in insurance law and are leaders in the field. They are active members in the Insurance Law Committee of the Defense Research Institute as well as PLUS, and they regularly publish articles and speak on insurance topics to stay abreast of the latest developments in coverage law and insurance products. One of our attorneys even holds a CPCU designation. Some of our recent articles have addressed whether (and when) insurers should split files between coverage and defense; the substantive and procedural requirements for preserving coverage defenses when defending under reservation of rights; and the evolving standards of the bad faith failure to settle claim. Some recent accolades include the following:
Philip Savrin was cited by the Georgia Supreme Court as an expert on insurance law in its decision on defending an insured under an effective reservation of rights in World Harvest Church, Inc. v. GuideOne Mutual Insurance Company.
Seth Kirby authored the Georgia chapter for DRI’s 2012 publication Professional Liability Insurance: A Compendium of State Law, and he is presently serving as co-editor for the southeast region for DRI’s upcoming Reservation of Rights Compendium.
Our areas of insurance law expertise include:
Coverage Analysis – From the initial stages of a claim through its resolution, we can help you analyze your policy and properly respond to demands for coverage including assisting with the development and drafting of appropriate denials or reservations of rights.
Claims Investigation – Often the most difficult part of any claim is determining its true worth. We can conduct investigations, including examinations under oath, to assist you in determining the legitimacy and value of a claim.
Coverage Litigation – From filing declaratory judgment actions to establish your rights and obligations under a policy, to defending carriers against allegations of bad faith, we have the skills necessary to champion your interests at every stage.
Training – Our team of attorneys want to ensure that they empower their clients to get things right from the beginning so that the insureds receive the benefit of their coverage and our clients can avoid making costly mistakes. In that regard, we are committed to creating and providing training opportunities for our clients. We can also assist you in the creation of best practices to help establish appropriate responses to common coverage issues.
Insurance law operates at the crossroads of risk transfer concepts and the reality of litigation. Insurance professionals need reliable and trusted advocates that have both the intellectual rigor to understand the insurance issues presented by their cases and the experience to guide them through litigation that may be necessary to protect their rights. We welcome the opportunity to serve as your guide.
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