Insurance
At SGL, we are national counsel to a number of insurance companies, including life, health and property and casualty. We have significant experience in coverage and claims litigation and advice, ranging from coverage determinations, claims handling and defense of claims (including trial and appeals) to coverage and bad faith litigation. We are industry leaders in litigation concerning specialized life and annuity products. We also regularly assist domestic and international insurance companies with regulatory compliance, product development, risk management and policy construction.
LIFE INSURANCE & ANNUITIES LITIGATION
We counsel insurers on many aspects of insurance and financial services operations. We have represented life insurance companies in a variety of contexts, including group benefits litigation, insurance company insolvency, and ERISA claims litigation, as well as litigation involving a number of annuity products, including 403(b) annuities, structured settlement annuities, non-qualified annuities, and IRA annuities.
We proudly serve as national counsel for life insurance companies concerning issues related to the impact of the secondary market, where interests in our clients’ products are sold and securitized. In a number of contexts, we have gained an expertise of stranger-originated life insurance, and claims relating to issues involving insurable interest. From a regulatory and litigation perspective, we have litigated matters under the 47 state acts which regulate the transfer of structured settlement annuity payments, and also have an expertise in the recent and growing legislation concerning the regulation of life settlements.
INSURANCE COVERAGE
We assist numerous domestic and international insurance companies that make difficult decisions on complex insurance coverage matters. We pride ourselves on providing an upfront and independent assessment of coverage with an opinion that is timely, thorough and easy to digest. In response to onerous time limitations imposed on insurers, we provide unfettered access to our team of coverage attorneys and the depth and experience to deliver a comprehensive and quality assessment of coverage. Where applicable, we provide our clients with a practical and cost effective strategy for resolving complex coverage issues. Our clients appreciate our team approach, and we would have it no other way. We are proud of our experience. We have represented insurance companies in some of the highest-profile insurance coverage disputes, including disputes arising from the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Central Artery / Tunnel Project (“Big Dig”) in Boston, Massachusetts. We have commenced and defended declaratory judgment actions (and arbitrations) in numerous jurisdictions across the U.S. and in a wide scope of product lines. We are skilled at the art of mediation and have assisted clients to make the process meaningful.
In our collective experience, we have advised domestic and international insurance companies on coverage issues spanning various product lines including, among others:
- Architects & Engineers
- Construction
- Directors & Officers
- Environmental
- General Liability
- Life Insurance
- Professional Liability
- Product Liability
- Property and Business Interruption
BAD FAITH / EXTRA CONTRACTUAL LIABILITY
Our insurance experience includes defending insurers against claims for extra contractual liability (bad faith). We are currently regional (Northeast) bad faith counsel to a large domestic insurance company, and we defend several other domestic and international insurers against bad faith claims in various jurisdictions. We have successfully defended insurers in bad faith cases arising from life, disability, and property and casualty policies.
We firmly believe the best approach in defending bad faith cases is to be consistently aggressive. At the outset, we provide each client with a detailed evaluation of the litigation and our proposed strategy. From then on, we work as a team to knock out the bad faith claims, avoid discovery exploitation and, ultimately, win the case.
In addition, we routinely provide our clients with value-added services, such as claims-handling and bad-faith avoidance seminars, state surveys on bad faith and punitive damages statutes and case law, as well as articles and reviews covering recent case law.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT / POLICY CONSTRUCTION
Our role as trusted coverage and litigation counsel has evolved over the years into providing pro-active advice concerning the development of insurance products and policy constructions. Our experience in this regard has included assisting large multi-national insurance companies with policy wording and Lloyd's Syndicates and captives with developing specialized program business. For example, with our insurance and product liability experience and expertise, we have advised clients on various aspects of medical device, sports and recreational products and retail apparel insurance programs, including implementing a risk management component.
RESOURCES
American Council of Life Insurers www.acli.com
The National Structured Settlements Trade Association www.nssta.com
National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) www.naic.org
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) www.finra.org
Professional Liability Underwriters Society www.plusweb.org
