Insurance

Given the complexity of the insurance industry and its related legal dynamics, LeClairRyan’s Insurance team stays mindful of a timeworn motto: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Our veteran attorneys maintain specific areas of focus. Some spend much of their time defending the interests of major insurance carriers in state or federal courts, or representing agents and brokers before oversight boards and commissions. Others routinely help clients comply with an ever-changing constellation of insurance-related regulations, or are adept at steering businesses toward the products and policies that best fit their needs. Regardless of the task at hand, however, we strive to give clients the maximum strategic advantage by making full use of the collective knowledge and experience at our disposal. By working together on complex legal and regulatory issues, we are able to leverage all of our team’s considerable resources. This close coordination not only makes us more effective as a team and as a firm—it also saves our clients both time and money.

Our Insurance services include:

• Reinsurance
• Insurance Coverage
• Regulatory Compliance 
• Litigation

Insurance & Reinsurance

Our attorneys fully serve the insurance industry. We represent insurers and reinsurers, their insureds, as well as insurance intermediaries involved in complex litigation, arbitration and appeals throughout the United States. These matters frequently include coverage cases and coverage opinions. We also conduct a robust regulatory practice on behalf of participants in the insurance industry.

Representative engagements: 

• Defending directors and officers under Directors & Officers policies 
• Defending insureds under commercial general liability policies 
• Defending insurance professionals in connection with agent/broker compensation
• Defending clients in multi-district litigation involving insurer and reinsurer insolvencies, finite covers and retrocession agreements

Insurance Agent and Broker Litigation/Regulatory Compliance

Our attorneys possess considerable experience in representing insurance professionals, including agents, brokers and adjusters facing Errors & Omissions (E&O) claims in both state and federal courts. We regularly advise insurance companies and their agents regarding compliance with state regulations, and represent insurance agents and brokers in litigation and formal and informal proceedings before insurance and securities regulators.

Representative engagements: 

• Defending all types of E&O claims filed against agents and brokers in federal and state courts, including claims such as failure to procure policies of insurance, failure to underwrite policies of insurance properly and ERISA claims 
• Providing advice to clients regarding strategies to avoid claims for professional malpractice and E&O claims 
• Defending professional insurance adjusters 
• Representing insurance agents and brokers in formal and informal proceedings before insurance and securities regulators 
• Acting as general counsel to large association of insurance agents 
• Representing a plaintiff insurance agency in an action filed against a former agent for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion and tortious interference with contractual relations arising from the agent’s solicitation and recovery of income from agency clients in violation of his contract

Professional Liability/Errors & Omissions (E&O) Liability

When legal, accounting or financial services firms face claims of professional malpractice, their insurance carriers naturally put a high priority on mounting a vigorous and effective defense. Our team has significant experience defending these and other businesses in claims brought under the numerous state and federal “consumer protection” statutes. We regularly represent financial institutions in lender-liability actions, including claims brought under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. We also represent clients in the defense of claims brought under the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act and other federal and state consumer lending laws.

Representative engagements: 

• Representing an accounting firm in a high-profile state court action involving a multimillion-dollar accounting malpractice claim for alleged negligent failure to detect and report an embezzlement scheme by a former county general manager 
• Representing a law firm in a legal malpractice action seeking $50 million in damages arising out of the aforementioned firm’s representation of a company embroiled in an intra-corporate dispute involving alleged breach of fiduciary duties by certain corporate officers 
• Representing law firms in legal malpractice actions against claims of alleged deviation from the standard of care in providing litigation services to the plaintiff and former client 
• Representing former outside counsel to large insurance companies in multiple class actions seeking more than $1.2 billion in damages 
• Acting as national counsel for Fortune 500 insurance company to handle high-exposure professional malpractice claims

Insurance Coverage Evaluation & Litigation

Regardless of the industry, no business can function without the protection of insurance. Given the vast array of insurance policies and products in the marketplace today, businesses often need help in negotiating the diverse legal and strategic challenges that can arise in connection with insurance coverage. The attorneys on our Insurance practice team offer precisely this kind of experience. Through years spent helping clients in a wide variety of industries work through these complex coverage issues, we have developed important insights into the needs of insurers and insureds alike, as well as a thorough understanding of the relationship between these two constituents. We have a depth of experience in the nuances of policy coverage, exclusions and conditions, and our litigators regularly take to verdict cases involving all types of insurance policies.

Indeed, our litigation attorneys represent insurers and reinsurers, as well as their insureds and intermediaries, in litigation, arbitration and appeals throughout the United States. We routinely handle commercial, liability and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) matters for the industry, and have a robust regulatory-compliance practice.

Our attorneys have developed considerable experience and knowledge in handling coverage claims, both in court and in an advisory capacity. We counsel clients in the formation and qualification of insurance entities, policy-drafting and coverage opinions, and frequently work with entities such as the Virginia State Corporation Commission on first- and third-party insurance-coverage actions related to personal injury, toxic torts, construction accidents and environmental contamination, as well as to aviation, commercial premises, professional and motor-vehicle liability.

Services: 

• Acting as General Counsel in forming insurers and assuring regulatory compliance
• Representing insurance companies in state and federal actions in declaratory judgment actions for coverage disputes and priority of coverage 
• Advising insurance companies and self-insured entities regarding duties and rights under all types of insurance policies, including commercial general liability policies, life insurance policies, errors and omissions policies, and health insurance policies 
• Acting as counsel for insureds – institutional and individual clients – in coverage matters 
• Representing Directors in board matters of insurance companies 
• Contractual indemnification, whether pursuing indemnity or defending against indemnity demands

Representative engagements: 

• Represented an insurance carrier in declaratory judgment action involving the application of a worker’s compensation exclusion to a commercial automobile liability policy arising from an employee who sustained injuries in an accident while a passenger in the employer’s vehicle 
• Represented an insurer in a case of first impression regarding allocation of loss among insurers under the MCS-90 endorsement 
• Defended an insurance company in an action brought by a lienholder bank that sought to recover under the insured’s automobile liability policy when the insured had allowed a policy to lapse 
• Defended beneficiaries of a double indemnity life insurance policy in a federal declaratory judgment action that involved a novel issue of Virginia law 
• Represented a utility company in coverage action for recovery of remediation costs under a commercial general liability policy 
• Represented an insurance carrier in a federal court declaratory judgment action against insured for failure to cooperate under terms of business automobile liability policy 
• Represented a securities broker in an action to recover costs of defense and indemnity under an errors and omissions liability policy 
• Defended a prominent national automobile liability insurer in a coverage action brought by an underinsured carrier in a wrongful death case 
• Advised an insurer of a restaurant chain regarding duties under a commercial general liability policy for a claim of discrimination in restaurant seating and serving practices 
• Defended a syndicate of aviation liability insurers in a $150 million coverage dispute arising out of claims related to a failed satellite launch 
• Defended an aviation liability insurer in multiple coverage disputes arising out of aviation accidents 
• Represented a commercial orchard in action to recover costs of failed crop pursuant to U.S. Department of Agriculture regulated policy. Coverage was triggered due to typo in CFR 
• Analyzed policy provisions in a claims-made professional liability policy with opinion to insurer concerning issues of timely notice of claim, reservation of rights, right to terminate defense, estoppel and the waiver of the right to terminate defense 
• Provided opinion to an insurer regarding the Condominium Trust Liability Policy concerning issues of coverage for non-monetary relief, payment of civil fines or penalties and the pollution exclusion resulting in denial of coverage 
• Reviewed “other insurance” clauses in insurance policies, along with contracts between parties including commercial vehicle rental company, corporate lessee and individual operator with occurrence in Louisiana to determine the primary/excess insurance relationship between policies and an insurer duty to defend obligation 
• Arbitrated an insurance coverage case on behalf of an insurer, issuing CGL policy under which Advertising Injury (product disparagement) claims were made in connection with an antitrust lawsuit brought in California, a Missouri corporate insured and an Illinois insurer. Issues included the insured’s right to independent counsel, apportionment of fees and expenses between insured/insurer and payment of pre-tender fees and expenses 
• Provided opinion to an insurer concerning the duty to defend and indemnity obligations owed to a medical professional covered under his own primary and umbrella policies as well as the primary and excess policies of the insured medical facility at which he worked 
• Initiated a declaratory judgment action on behalf of a Massachusetts personal lines insurer in an insurance coverage case in which underlying occurrence happened in New York, the operator of vehicle resided in Pennsylvania and the owner of the vehicle was located in Massachusetts. Matters addressed included conflict of laws and material misrepresentation of fact in application for insurance 
• Defended a commercial lines primary insurer in a bad faith and breach of contract action brought by an excess insurer regarding issues surrounding primary insurers actions in alleged failure to settle an underlying case within the primary insurer’s policy limits, exposing the excess insurer to a multi-million dollar payment 
• Defended a New Hampshire commercial liability insurer in a coverage dispute involving lost policies issued in the early 1970s. The insurer challenged the existence of policies and the insured’s failure to establish terms and conditions based on documents presented 
• Represented an insurer in a homeowner’s coverage dispute in a claim made by a current property owner against a former insured property owner where an oil spill surfaced after the sale of a property 
• Represented a commercial liability insurer in the denial of coverage involving an insured oil company making a delivery to a wrong house and subsequent tank leakage 
• Reviewed an insuring agreement, exclusions and conditions in primary and excess policies involving a potential insured moving van line carrier, agent/operator and independent contractor in a multi-million dollar property damage and bodily injury case concerning duty to defend and indemnify 
• Defended an automobile insurance company in a declaratory judgment action against an insured and a second automobile insurance company concerning issues of uninsured motorist coverage and “other insurance” clauses in policies 
• Represent a personal lines insurer in an insurance coverage dispute involving a claim by an estate where the issue is purported “use” of an automobile in connection with a possible murder/suicide 
• Represented an automobile insurer in an insurance coverage dispute involving underinsured motorist benefits sought by an employee of an insured employer where the employee had his own policy with uninsured motorist benefits