Benchmark Litigation 2021 Recognizes Blank Rome Attorneys and Practices

Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that our practice groups and attorneys received the following high-level rankings and recognitions in Benchmark Litigation 2021

Practice Group Rankings

For the third year in a row, our Insurance Recovery practice group, which was named Benchmark Litigation’s 2020 Insurance Firm of the Year, was ranked Tier 1 nationally. This year, the group was also among three select firms notably ranked Tier 1 for Insurance in California.

In addition, our Firm was recommended for Dispute Resolution in the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania, and our Labor & Employment practice group was recommended in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Individual Attorney Rankings

Insurance Recovery

California

    • Mary Craig Calkins 
      • California – Litigation Star
      • Local Litigation Star

    • Linda Kornfeld 
      • National Practice Area Star
      • California – Litigation Star
      • Local Litigation Star
      • Top 250 Women in Litigation

New York

Washington, D.C.

    • Kyle P. Brinkman
      • 40 & Under Hot List – Northeast

    • John A. Gibbons – Insurance, Product Liability, and Recall
      • Local Litigation Star

    • John E. Heintz 
      • Local Litigation Star
      • National Practice Area Star

    • James R. Murray – Insurance, Product Liability, and Recall
      • Local Litigation Star
      • National Practice Area Star

    • Omid Safa 
      • 40 & Under Hot List – Northeast

Continue reading “Benchmark Litigation 2021 Recognizes Blank Rome Attorneys and Practices”

Top 10 Tips for Insurance Policyholders (Fall 2020)

John A. Gibbons

1. Assess the policies you have and reassess the policies you should buy in the future.

2020 has brought a host of unwelcome events: pandemics, fires, floods, cyberattacks, financial failures, etc. An insurance program tailored to the risks and business opportunities of your specific company can provide for recovery during dark times, and specialized insurance products can help you safely expand your business. It is time to consider how tailored your current program is, and how you can better align insurance assets to your business in the future.

2. Use indemnities and additional insured status to expand your insurance assets.

Everyday business for many companies involves the use of terms and conditions; sales or services orders; and leases that address indemnification, minimum insurance requirements, and additional insured status. A well-thought-out use of additional insured status can allow you to leverage the insurance assets and insurance premiums of counterparties.

3. Ensure that you get the full benefits of your liability and property insurances.

Insurance policies provide many coverages, policy limits, and extensions that may not be readily apparent, and all of which may provide substantial financial assistance in the event of a loss. In addition, specialized forms of insurance, additional riders, or policy wording upgrades can better tailor policies to your specific business attributes. Use the renewal season to explore your options.

4. Avoid “conventional wisdom” about what is or is not covered.

With insurance, words matter! In fact, the wording determines the outcome. Do not accept statements about what others think a policy does or should cover. For example, claims for intentional wrongdoing and punitive damages often are covered by liability policies. Likewise, losses from your supply chain may be covered under your property policies. Non-payments of debts and breaches of contractual promises are covered under various forms of policies. Let the words lead you to coverage.

5. Give notice once you know of a loss or claim.

Typically, notice should be given soon after a loss, claim, or lawsuit, but remember that a delay in giving notice will not necessarily result in the loss of coverage. Consider the potentially applicable insurance assets that may apply and give notice.

6. Insist your insurers fully investigate claims.

Insurers have a duty to investigate claims thoroughly and must look for facts that support coverage.

7. Watch what you say.

Communications with an insurer or an insurance broker regarding a lawsuit against you or a loss are not necessarily privileged.

8. Don’t take “no” for an answer.

A reservation of rights is almost always the start of the insurance claim process, and a denial should not dissuade you from pursuing your rights. Even if coverage is not obvious at first, it may be there, if you look in the right places.

9. Document, document, document your claim.

Whether it is a first-party loss or a liability suit against you, write to your insurer and document your submission of information and materials. Require your insurer to respond in writing and to explain its position. A well-documented chain of correspondence narrows disputes, helps to limit shifting of insurer positions, or helps to make such shifting very apparent if your claim proceeds to formal enforcement measures.

10. Insist that your insurers honor their duties.

In the liability context insurers frequently owe broad duties to defend with independent, conflict-free counsel, even if uncovered claims dominate the lawsuit against you. In property insurance contexts, insurers have duties to help you on an expedited emergency basis to protect your interests immediately after a loss. It is important to hold insurers to their duties to protect you immediately upon assertion of liability or after a loss—delay only benefits insurers.

 

Credit Insurance: Insurance for Late Payments or Nonpayments

John A. Gibbons and James S. Carter

Recent events and the decline of the global economy have brought a raft of notices of late payments or no payments for creditors, lenders, landlords, and trade counterparties. In many instances there may be no notice at all, but rather just silence and a nonpayment. With the downturn and record number of layoffs and closures also comes the specter of further prolonged defaults and bankruptcies.

Is there insurance to protect against a nonpayment? Yes. Beyond Business Interruption / Business Income and other insurance policies that cover losses from recent events and business suspension losses, there is specific insurance designed to protect against the risk of nonpayment of a debt: Credit Insurance / Trade Credit Insurance.

What Is Credit Insurance?

Credit insurance protects those that purchase the insurance against the risk of nonpayment of an insured debt. Purchasers of credit insurance can fall within a wide array of businesses—lenders, exporters, commodity traders, product suppliers. Credit Insurance is typically used to protect a company’s own account receivables (“AR”) against the risk of nonpayment. Continue reading “Credit Insurance: Insurance for Late Payments or Nonpayments”

Top 5 Tips for Insureds Following Winter Storm Losses

John A. Gibbons, Jared Zola and Erin L. Webb

This week, winter snowstorms swept through the East Coast of the United States and several surrounding areas, leaving snowfall of up to two to three feet in a 36-hour period. In the bustle to get the snow cleared and get back to work, companies and individuals should be sure to maximize all available insurance coverage.

Winter storm losses can be serious and expensive.  At least one source estimates that the cost of the recent East Coast storm could range from $585 to $850 million. While not all costs will be covered by insurance, insurance policies can protect against a variety of losses relating to winter storms. For example, damaged buildings and property may be covered under a first-party property policy, as can business interruption losses that are caused by property damage. Snow and ice can also potentially expose a company to third party claims for bodily injury or property damage relating to conditions on their property, which may be covered by liability insurance.

The following five tips will help insureds maximize their coverage for winter storm losses and get back on their feet quickly.  Continue reading “Top 5 Tips for Insureds Following Winter Storm Losses”

Insurance Coverage for Government Seizures of Property

John E. Heintz and John A. Gibbons

John E. Heintz John A. GibbonsMany businesses and individuals are familiar with insurance that is available to pay for property that is taken by a private third party, be it a stranger, employee, competing business, or anconfiscate_locked_chain_shutterstock_113300764y other private actor. But what happens when a government entity or official “seizes” property? Businesses may not immediately think of insurance, but a number of forms of insurance may offer protection and reimbursement for the loss of the “seized” or taken property. Continue reading “Insurance Coverage for Government Seizures of Property”

The Second Circuit’s Ali Decision Supports Zeig on Exhaustion of Insurance

John A. Gibbons

John A. GibbonsThe Second Circuit’s June 4, 2013 decision in Ali v. Federal Insurance Co. addresses when and how a policyholder may recover from excess liability insurance policies for future liabilities when underlying insurers are insolvent. (Opinion linked here). A number of insurer-leaning commentators have cast the case as a rethinking of Zeig v. Massachusetts Bonding & Insurance Co., 23 F.2d 665 (2d Cir. 1928), the seminal Second Circuit decision authored by Judge Augustus Hand, which first established the principle that policyholders could recover against excess insurance policies even if the policyholder did not collect the full limits of underlying insurance policies.  In Zeig, the Second Circuit rejected an excess insurer’s attempt to walk away from its insurance obligations simply because Mr. Zeig settled his claim against a separate insurance company. Zeig established the principle, recognized by numerous courts since, that a policyholder’s settlement with one insurer does not forfeit the policyholder’s rights against other insurers.

The characterization that the Second Circuit has now called Zeig’s common-sense, and widely recognized principle into question, however, seriously misreads the decision in Ali. To understand Ali—what it does and does not hold—requires an understanding of the issues that were actually ruled on by the district court and affirmed by the Second Circuit. Continue reading “The Second Circuit’s Ali Decision Supports Zeig on Exhaustion of Insurance”

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