Comprehensive General Liability Litigation

We have vast experience with a variety of coverage issues arising from our clients’ comprehensive general liability coverages. These include the duty to settle, the duty to defend, “target tender,” consent clause enforcement, independent counsel requirements, fortuity, existence of occurrence or accidents, late notice, additional insureds, covered contracts, and other issues. We have prosecuted and defended numerous actions regarding our clients’ duty to defend and have obtained favorable rulings based on various theories, including that the insureds’ claims were for uninsured breach of contract damages, economic damages, or were otherwise intended or expected damages.

We have also fought numerous battles over coverage with other insurers, additional insureds, and claimants in the context of construction contracts, such disputes arising in both federal and state courts. Our keen knowledge of the Federal Declaratory Judgment Statute as well as jurisdiction and forum requirements puts us in an extremely advantageous position in protecting our clients’ interests. Particular issues our firm’s attorneys have litigated include:

  
 

Advertising Liability Coverage – Coverage for copyrights and patent infringement, antitrust violations, securities fraud, and banking institution failures.

 

Personal Injury Coverage – Coverage for civil rights actions, zoning cases, maternity leave class actions, wrongful termination claims, and environmental cases.

Business Risk Exclusions – Applicability of exclusions to underlying cases filed nationwide involving items and products such as fire-retardant plywood, plastic piping, and defective buildings.

Additional Insured Coverage – Coverage for additional insureds and the relationship to indemnity agreements in the construction industry and in other commercial relationships with parties such as vendors and products distributors.

Excess Insurance – Issues concerning vertical versus horizontal exhaustion, rights of excess insurers to challenge allocations, drop down issues, and excess/primary relationships.

Reformation and Rescission – Issues concerning liability insurance policies due to mutual mistake or material misrepresentations.


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