Insurance Recovery Practice

• Recovered more than $5 billion from insurers for policyholders in just the last five years and billions more in prior years.
• Includes nearly 60 attorneys and professionals nationwide. Thirteen attorneys and professionals comprising the insurance coverage practice of Swidler Berlin recently joined our Washington, D.C. office.
• Ranked in the first tier, on a nationwide basis, by Chambers USA. We are also the only insurance recovery practice to be ranked by Chambers in one of the top two categories in more than one market. Nine of our lawyers were individually recognized as among the best in this field.
• Work on some of the highest profile insurance coverage matters in the world, including claims arising out of Hurricane Katrina and Rita and the collapse of the World Trade Center. 
• Involved in the development of favorable law for policyholders, including over 50 published opinions on insurance matters and numerous successful trials.
• Achieved the highest-value settlements ever reached in private coverage negotiations, including four of the five largest settlements in the history of the London Insurance Market.

Coverage & Risk Management Counseling

We assist clients in assessing their insurance needs, and we work to evaluate and, where appropriate, manuscript and negotiate insurance policy language. Our clients routinely consult our attorneys to develop contractual insurance and risk transfer provisions. We have experienced insurance professionals on staff who can assist in evaluating proposed policy terms. We have extensive experience in M&A insurance products, including tax loss, "rep and warranty" and loss mitigation coverages. Our clients frequently use captives and other alternative risk transfer devices, and we regularly assist in the assessment of such devices.

Property Damage, Business Interruption & Other First Party Insurance

We believe that no law firm has more experience than Heller Ehrman in representing policyholders in first party and business interruption insurance disputes. We have represented policyholder clients in scores of first party losses involving virtually every significant issue that may arise in connection with claims under business interruption, property damage, bankers bond, crime, credit risk and impairment, fidelity, builders' risk, breach of warranty and other types of first party policies. We assist in assessing coverage, notifying insurers, preparing claim documentation, and negotiating with insurers. Ordinarily, we attempt to identify and eliminate potential disputes early, and we have resolved many large claims through negotiation. When insurers are unwilling to resolve disputes satisfactorily, we litigate them efficiently. We have successfully handled first party appraisals, arbitrations and trials.

Recovery Negotiations Outside of Litigation

We have been leaders in developing negotiation strategies to resolve insurance disputes and monetize insurance coverage assets without resorting to litigation. Our process involves a careful evaluation of existing liabilities, potential future exposures, available insurance coverage and applicable law to determine the value of assets potentially within the scope of negotiations. We bring to bear a multidisciplinary approach incorporating legal talent, the experience of former insurance industry personnel and, as appropriate, engineering, environmental, and other technical knowledge to ensure the development of a thorough and well grounded claim. We typically conduct negotiations separately with each implicated insurer under strict confidentiality and standstill arrangements.

This integrated approach has led to many of the world's largest settlements of insurance coverage claims for environmental and product liability exposures. We have used it successfully to resolve major environmental claims in the petrochemical, mining and smelting, electric and gas, manufacturing, and resource industries, as well as larger product claims involving breast implants, asbestos, silica, and other exposures. Our approach has assisted clients in drawing on their existing insurance assets before major insurance coverage disputes arise, as well as in resolving existing coverage disputes and litigation. Our clients have included many of the world's largest oil and chemical companies, resource industries, utilities and manufacturers. Of course, when litigation is the more appropriate strategy, we have an extensive and enviable record of success in litigating and trying cases against insurers.

Third Party, Commercial & Comprehensive General Liability Insurance

We represent policyholders on almost every kind of third party insurance, including Commercial/Comprehensive General Liability (CGL), umbrella and excess, Directors and Officers liability (D&O), Errors and Omissions (E&O), surety, professional liability, patent infringement, cyber-liability, media liability, warranty, product recall and Employment Practices Liability (EPLI) insurance. We have handled claims of all types, including asbestos, environmental, products, toxic tort, securities fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, trademark, patent, copyright, trade secret, construction, real estate, consumer fraud, deceptive practices, RESPA, privacy, right of publicity and civil rights liabilities, among many others.

We devise strategies for obtaining an immediate and complete defense and indemnification of our clients against underlying suits and claims. We analyze existing and future liabilities and conduct comprehensive assessments of coverage for those liabilities, working closely with our deep bench of trial lawyers experienced in the underlying areas of practice. We negotiate with insurers to obtain interim defense funding and indemnity agreements or interim payments. When insurers fail to recognize obligations, we help clients structure defenses and settlements to preserve rights and maximize the value of insurance assets.

Engagements

• Powerine Oil Company: Unanimous decision of the California Supreme Court, holding that standard excess insurance policies can cover the cost of complying with environmental agency remediation orders.
• GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corporation: Representing lender and servicer of a $563 million mortgage loan to the lessee of the World Trade Center in its claims for insurance recoveries and related matters arising from the 9/11 tragedy.
• Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc.: Complete recovery in litigation from insurers for consumer class actions against Sony over the original Playstation®; continuing to litigate coverage and bad faith claims involving similar class actions over the Playstation®2.
• Paxson Communications Corporation: Substantial first-party insurance recovery in litigation over communication towers lost in World Trade Center 9/11 tragedy.
• Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation: All aspects of its dealings with insurers concerning hundreds of millions of dollars of insurance coverage for asbestos bodily injury, including negotiation regarding coverage in place agreements, audits, reimbursements and claims documentation, and complex coverage litigation. Also handling several large first party and third party coverage matters for environmental and asbestos liabilities.
• Kelly-Moore Paint Company, Inc.: Jury trial in San Francisco Superior Court in case involving hundreds of millions of dollars in coverage for asbestos bodily injury claims.
• PMI Mortgage Insurance Co.: Obtained published Ninth Circuit ruling holding that alleged Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) violations constitute “wrongful acts” under standard professional liability policy provisions.
• Foster Farms Dairy: Obtained complete defense and indemnity coverage under employment practices insurance policy for discrimination actions against the largest privately owned dairy in California.
• The Rank Organisation (Hard Rock Café): International litigation regarding business interruption claims for the New York and DC Hard Rock Café restaurants arising out of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
• Michael Semler: Representing a certified class of life insurance policyholders, challenging industry practice of charging premium for a period of time in which no insurance coverage is provided.
• Hewlett-Packard Company: Significant business interruption claim. 
• Aztar Corporation: Business interruption and property damage coverage disputes resulting from partial collapse of eleven-story parking structure under construction, with focus on hotel and gaming industry losses.
• Embarcadero Technologies, Inc.: Obtained reimbursement of disputed defense fees and costs, and payment of bulk of confidential settlement in dispute over directors' and officers' policy coverage for technology misappropriation claims.
• Adobe Systems, Inc.: Pursuing errors and omissions and general liability coverage for claims over alleged violations of copyright, breaches and errors in license agreements regarding the use of various fonts.
• Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc (the owner of the Millennium Hilton Hotel, across the street from the World Trade Center site, and the U.N. Plaza and Plaza Hotels in New York): Litigation involving insurance coverage for hundreds of millions of dollars of losses arising out of the events of 9/11.

Contacts

Richard DeNatale
richard.denatale@hellerehrman.com
+1 (415) 772-6354

Mark J. Plumer
mark.plumer@hellerehrman.com
+1 (202) 912-2021

Attorneys