Insurance & Reinsurance

Shook, Hardy & Bacon has a long history of success representing clients involved in insurance coverage disputes. The SHB Insurance & Reinsurance Practice draws on its in-depth industry knowledge to manage contentious coverage issues arising in both domestic and international contexts. A substantial presence in all 10 firm offices, SHB insurance and reinsurance attorneys partner with companies to protect their assets in complex business litigation.

Insurance

SHB insurance attorneys have handled cases concerning coverage for business torts; toxic torts and environment contamination; products liability; premises liability; professional and fiduciary liability; credit union and banking fraud; punitive damages; advertising injury; construction defects; and intellectual property claims. This group has also litigated, mediated and negotiated bad-faith claims associated with primary, umbrella and excess policies; first-party property and business interruption policies; fiduciary policies; and errors and omissions policies; as well as claims arising from a broad range of policy forms, including: commercial general liability occurrence and claims-made forms; occurrence reported (Bermuda) forms; special multi-peril forms; environmental impairment liability forms; directors and officers liability forms; and employment practice liability forms. In addition, SHB frequently counsel clients with regard to the scope of different insurance products; best practices in providing notice and claims cooperation; and the structuring of corporate purchase and sales transactions to maximize insurance assets. These consulting services often employ extensive insurance archaeology, which entails tracing corporate history to establish the terms of lost policies.

Reinsurance

This practice also focuses on resolving complex reinsurance disputes. The firm currently represents cedents, including captive cedents, reinsurers, and retrocessionaires in diverse matters before state, federal and appellate courts throughout the United States. SHB attorneys are fully conversant in all types of domestic and international proportional and nonproportional facultative reinsurance certificates, as well as pro rata, quota share, surplus share, and excess of loss treaty reinsurances and retrocession agreements. This group has litigated, arbitrated and resolved cases involving: the scope of “follow the form” and “as original” insuring agreements in short-form reinsurance policies; late notice; failure-to-supervise claims activities; follow-the-fortunes clauses; utmost good-faith; motions for pre-answer security and preliminary injunctive relief in aid of arbitration; claims cooperation and right to associate clauses; loss adjustment expense allocation provisions; and agency and intermediary disputes. SHB reinsurance lawyers have also acted as consultants to companies seeking to anticipate and avoid potential coverage disputes.