Representing clients in insurance matters requires a full understanding of a client’s business needs and potential exposure. Carr Maloney attorneys have advised and represented clients in a variety of contexts, including insurance policy analysis, coverage litigation and strategic claim advice. We litigate both local and national complex and multidistrict insurance coverage disputes.
Coverage Litigation
Our dedicated coverage attorneys have mastered the ever-evolving, complex subjects that underlie each coverage dispute. Our legal, technical, and technological expertise has shaped favorable law in many of these cases. The firm has been involved at the national level in a variety of cases that have established precedent in important jurisdictional and procedural areas.
Nationally, we work with carriers to coordinate national positions on key policy language, provide strategic claim advice and analyze procedural as well as insurance law issues.
The firm is an established leader in insurance litigation in many different industries and involving major issues as PCBs, breast implants, and contaminated groundwater and waterways. Our experience began with the Agent Orange federal multidistrict litigation in the 1970s. It continued through Keene and its progeny in the 1980s, the medical device disputes of the 1990s and the toxic tort, “sick building” and construction coverage disputes of today.
On a regional level, our clients regularly engage the firm for coverage opinions and litigate coverage disputes. We advise institutional clients and insureds on all types of policies, including:
- Commercial General Liability
- Directors & Officers, Professional Liability
- Life
- Property
- Specialty Lines
Strategic Claim Advice and Analysis
As part of our strategic claim practice, Carr Maloney provides clients with the best strategies to avoid excessive litigation and business exposure. We identify matters that pose an unacceptable business risk and work closely with senior management to resolve the matter quickly. Carr Maloney fully appreciates the sensitive coordination of corporate relationships and internal and external committees required to provide strategic claim advice and analysis.
As national coordinating counsel to a major property/casualty insurance company, we develop consistent national strategies on:
- Affirmative and Defensive Discovery
- Corporate Testimony
- Policy Interpretation
- Substantive Legal Positions
We continue to analyze and manage large, repetitive and/or complex exposures for property and casualty carriers and captive insurers. Our attorneys have broad litigation experience as trial counsel or coordinating counsel in state and federal courts across the country. We are effective and efficient as trial counsel from the outset of a case, and also as coordinating counsel working with local counsel. Carr Maloney attorneys are often brought in as substitute counsel taking over during a case when additional expertise is needed.
Captive Insurance and Risk Retention Groups
In recent years, businesses and individuals have discovered the benefits of captive insurers and risk retention groups (RRGs). The firm counsels clients as they explore whether a captive (i.e. pure captive, agency captive, and other forms) or an RRG best suits their needs. Once the decision is made, we guide clients through the formation process. We review and prepare corporate formation documents, applications and registration, and related materials.
To operate, these non-traditional insurance entities require a special network of professional services. Our attorneys coordinate owners/ policy-holders, actuaries, accountants, captive managers, and consultants to meet the entity’s specific needs. These entities must also satisfy stringent regulatory requirements. We guide our clients through the regulatory process to ensure complete compliance.
Carr Maloney’s attorneys also have experience in business, commercial and general litigation. Captives and RRGs often retain us to provide general counsel services because, like any business, they face legal issues that require these skills. In addition, we provide risk management and claims management services to captive insurers and RRGs, which often times need to outsource some or all of these functions.
Representative Experience
- Eli Lilly & Co. v. Home Ins. Co., 794 F.2d 710, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 27494, 254 U.S. App. D.C. 1
- In re TEXAS EASTERN TRANSMISSION CORP. PCB CONTAMINATION INS. COVERAGE LITIG. v. TEXAS EASTERN TRANSMISSION CORP., 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4410, 1997 WL 164256, also reported at 15 F.3d 1230 (3rd Cir. 1994) and 15 F.3d 1249 (3rd Cir. 1994)
- Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co. v. ACC Chem. Co., 538 N.W.2d 259, 1995 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 151
- Travelers Ins. Co. v. LaClair, 250 Va. 368, 463 S.E.2d 461, 1995 Va. LEXIS 148
