Insurance: Direct

For 90 years, insurers have come to Lord, Bissell & Brook LLP, when legal issues arise in their direct insurance business. Over the years, we have dealt with all types of direct insurance, from basic life insurance to complex commercial manuscript policies. With more than 75 attorneys practicing in this area out of five office locations, we provide the full spectrum of services, from policy drafting to defense of insurers in complex litigation arising from coverage disputes, bad faith claims or corporate business transactions. We have successfully tried our clients’ big problem cases, have successfully managed high-frequency insurance programs, and have done virtually everything in between. Our representation is widespread throughout the insurance industry in the U.S., U.K., Bermuda and continental Europe.

What Others Say About Us

The 2007 Reactions Legal Survey ranked Lord, Bissell & Brook #1 in the U.S. for insurance and reinsurance related issues for the fourth year in a row. This year, the firm also was ranked #1 in the categories of regulatory, litigation and dispute management, insolvency, corporate contracts, policy drafting and reinsurance.

In another independent survey, Chambers USA ranked Lord, Bissell & Brook as a top insurance firm in Illinois, with the publication noting:

“As an insurance stalwart, it has been steeped in the industry for several generations and can offer clients a stable of excellent lawyers with deep bench strength.”

Chambers also ranked five of our partners among the top Illinois insurance lawyers in the 2007 issue, and several of our attorneys have been recognized individually by other surveys, including Leading Lawyers and Who’s Who in American Law.

Our Professional Services

Litigation/Arbitration Lord, Bissell & Brook is known for its top notch litigators, and our attorneys have been recognized for their dispute resolution skills, whether through negotiation, mediation, arbitration or litigation, in the most complex and serious coverage disputes. Our insurance litigators have handled claims under various types of insurance policies from serious life and disability claims, to large property losses to mega-claim issues such as asbestos, September 11th, pharmaceuticals, securities and environmental. We defend complex, multi-party cases in courtrooms throughout the country with strategies developed in accordance with our client’s objectives, business needs and budgets. Where high stakes are involved, whether in terms of money, key coverage issues or corporate reputation, we have the litigators to handle the matter. Representative matters we have handled include:

Obtained a defense verdict from an Indiana jury following a month long trial of Public Service of Indiana's multi-million dollar environmental pollution claims;
Successfully defended excess insurers against a $160M claim under various Business Interruption policies arising out of the “Great Flood of 1993” in which the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers washed out ADMs manufacturing and transportation facilities;
Successfully defended against attack on multiple coverages under various D & O and fiduciary policies for claims arising out of securities litigation involving the IPO of AT&T Wireless with a claimed loss exceeding $2B;
Successfully defended quota share D&O insurers on two $75M policies against insured’s position of two claims in different policy years arising from securities class action and derivative litigation involving Boeing’s massive write-off for cost overruns on the 757 causing over $4B in market loss;
Successfully defended excess insurers with limits of $95M against asbestos BI and PD claims in adversary proceeding in Florida bankruptcy court;
Minnesota Supreme Court affirms favorable allocation ruling in pollution coverage case; decision often cited;
Following closing arguments after a three month jury trial of pollution claims, and with litigation involving DBCP and other products pending, we obtained a favorable settlement for a fraction of the claimed losses;
Liaison counsel for excess insurers in breast implant coverage case involving losses exceeding $2B; obtained bankruptcy court approval of a favorable settlement, including a right to reimbursement if Dow Corning’s ultimate loss was less than projected and injunctions against any direct actions;
Summary judgment on contract and bad faith claims in their entirety and avoidance of any piercing of the corporate veil for our insurer clients;
7th Circuit agrees with our interpretation of total limits, saving clients $100M in claims arising from the Chicago flood;
Favorable number of occurrences ruling upheld on appeal, resulting in no liability for our insurer clients on 800+ employment discrimination claims;
Oklahoma Supreme Court agrees that pollution exclusion bars coverage for about $100M in claimed losses;
4th Circuit agrees pollution exclusion bars coverage for welding rod claims;
Prevailed on late notice defense in trial court, appellate court and Ohio Supreme Court in multi-million environmental coverage dispute;
Two rulings enforcing the aviation absolute pollution exclusion (AVN46B);
Removed Louisiana Attorney General’s direct action against BIG Tobacco’s insurers to federal court; case settled without contribution from our clients;
Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirms voiding policy for fraudulent misrepresentation and bars coverage for $90M pollution site; jury denies coverage as to separate $50M site on "expected/intended" grounds;
Prevailed on argument that issuance of stock and warrants used in settlement of Private Securities Litigation Reform Act action was not “loss” under $15M D & O primary policy;
Missouri Court of Appeals upholds decision that TWA failed to prove any "occurrences" and that the pollution exclusions and the "owned property" exclusion barred any coverage;
Verdict for clients following nine-week bench trial of pollution coverage claim exceeding $20M; and
Appellate court upheld our position of no coverage on grounds that the DRGW claim did not arise out of property damage within the meaning of the subject insurance policies.

Beyond litigated results, we also have assisted our clients in reaching favorable settlements. Illustrative examples include: a dispute with MGAs involving regulatory and contractual claims, the Touslouse plant explosion in France, the Kaiser Aluminum plant explosion, and various dioceses’ sexual abuse claims.

Where the need arises, we have attorneys skilled in handling arbitrations and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, whether in the U.S. or the U.K. Many of our attorney are experienced in both direct insurance and reinsurance, and we maintain an extensive bank of resources to assist clients in the selection of arbitrators.

In one confidential arbitration, for example, the opposing party sought nearly $10M in bad-faith settlements that it alleged were caused by our client’s claim-handling practices. At the arbitration trial, the client offered to settle for more than $2M, which was rejected. The arbitration panel ultimately awarded less than $500,000 to the opposing party.

Other Legal Services

While complex litigation and dispute resolution is a premier feature of our practice, we have lawyers with the skills and experience to service all legal needs of the insurance industry. Examples of our non-litigation practice areas include the following:

Policy Drafting and Analysis We draft, analyze and interpret policies of primary and excess insurance (form and manuscript), as well as endorsements to all types of policies. Sometimes our work in this area arises from a client’s desire to introduce a new product; sometimes it stems from our identification of issues that should be addressed via new exclusions or other types of endorsements. When regulatory issues are involved, we have attorneys and non-attorney specialists who can move the project from drafting to regulatory approval.

Coverage Opinions Our attorneys prepare coverage opinions on issues arising under a vast array of policies. Because of our widespread experience with the insurance industry, we are familiar with most policy forms and coverage law throughout the United States. When coverage is in question, we provide the answers.

Audits, Claims Evaluation and Resolution Planning We perform a variety of audits for self-insureds or insurers, and effectively audit claim files. We identify potential coverage issues and analyze potential exposures, both for underlying claims and for our clients’ exposures under their policies. We also counsel on claims management and risk reduction, as well as assisting clients in strategic resolution planning for specific single claims or across a book of business.

Administrative Hearings We represent insurance companies, insurance producers and third party administrators in administrative hearings before state departments of insurance. These hearings include policy coverage, cancellation and licensing issues.

Cutting Edge Experience In addition to traditional insurance coverage issues, we are already up to speed on emerging issues that insurers are just now facing or may soon face. Our practice teams focus on the latest developments in bankruptcies, insurer insolvencies, business interruption losses, life-style exposures (e.g. alcohol, fast-food or more generally, “the next tobacco”), finite risk, e-commerce, biotechnology and nanotechnology, “problem” or “potential problem” pharmaceutical products, occupational exposures (e.g. silica, welding rods or more generally, the proverbial “next asbestos”), shareholder actions, employment practices and product recalls. Our knowledge of emerging issues often is drawn upon by both underwriters and claims personnel who wish to “stay ahead of the game.”

Types of Direct Insurance Matters We Handle

Asbestos and silica claims
Bad faith claims and claims of other alleged corporate misconduct
Communications: cell phones, internet
Construction: construction defects, wood treatment, lead paint, mold
D&O: financial institutions, Fortune 500, global accounting firms, not-for-profit, public officials liability, school board legal liability, trustees E&O
Emerging claims, particularly mass torts
Employment practices: coverage, defense, policy drafting
Energy: package policies, pipelines, electric utilities (EMF and others)
Environmental pollution claims
ERISA: counseling, disability and medical claim litigation, fiduciary litigation and stop loss recoveries
First party: property, business interruption, recalls
Products: products liability, product recall, advertising liability, deceptive trade practices
Professional Liability: legal malpractice, medical malpractice, accountants, architects & engineers, insurance brokers & agents, real estate brokers and property managers
September 11 claims
Spitzer, et al claims
Third party GL: school boards, public entities, Catholic dioceses, Fortune 500 companies
Transportation: aviation, railroads, marine & cargo, tire manufacturers

Value Added Services

Throughout our 90-year history, Lord, Bissell & Brook attorneys have recognized that one of the most important components of a successful attorney/client relationship is our awareness of, and attention to, our clients’ overall business needs and objectives. Our legal services reflect that awareness. However, we pride ourselves on going beyond specific legal assignments and offering services that may help our clients more generally.

Because we appreciate the need to understand a client’s business, we often arrange secondments where one of our attorneys works at a client’s office for a period of time ranging from two weeks to three months. We regularly prepare “Client Alerts” on litigation-related developments of interest to the insurance industry. Recognizing the difficulties faced by insurers in keeping current on emerging claims, we provide weekly “HOT NEWS” bulletins. To further assist our clients in identifying and understanding emerging issues, we provide an annual update seminar on the “U.S. Tort System: Trends & Developments over the Last Year”, as well as interim update presentations and training seminars.

We realize that client informational needs cannot all be addressed through newsletters, presentations and training sessions. Questions arise in the course of daily work, which require prompt answers e.g., in the course of making underwriting decisions for a particular insured. To assist our clients in this respect, we offer what we refer to as a “quick query” courtesy service, meaning that we are available to address questions of a limited nature that can be answered quickly from our general knowledge.

“Value-added” for Lord, Bissell & Brook means more than courtesy services. We know that cost-efficiencies are particularly important for the insurance industry. In this connection, our firm is committed to maintaining, at our cost, various resources which enable us to provide our legal services in a cost-efficient manner. An important example: we establish extranets (at no charge) as a means of creating a secure electronic file shared with clients that includes electronic versions of documents (draft agreements, correspondence, pleadings, insured-specific policies, policy forms and so on). We also have a generic web based application for claims databases that allow production of reports designed to meet a particular client’s needs.