Insurance Counsel & Litigation

Practice Areas
Skip Navigation Links
Overview
Experience
Strasburger represents primary and excess insurers and reinsurers in a wide array of coverage and defense matters, including complex litigation before state and federal courts  throughout the United States and abroad, as well as before arbitration panels. Our attorneys have been involved in the conception of specialty insurance programs and have provided critical assistance with large claims that implicate multiple layers and periods of coverage.

Coverage and Underwriting Advice

Strasburger's attorneys identify and analyze coverage issues, advising prior to issuance of the policy and throughout the course of coverage litigation, including any appeal. Many of our insurance clients serve specialty markets such as risk pools, governmental liability, and professional errors and omissions. Our experience in analyzing and researching the legal issues arising in those markets helps underwriters formulate coverage proposals that protect the carrier and potential insureds. Strasburger then works with the underwriters, assisting with the drafting of coverage documents in unique and difficult markets. Our experience with coverage documents and endorsements helps carriers limit unintended coverage or gaps in coverage. Once these documents are in place, we address issues raised by a range of policies — including primary and excess policies, as well as reinsurance treaties, and facultative certificates. Strasburger also guides carriers through administrative and statutory issues such as premium rating, surplus lines, and forms approval.

Insurance Litigation

We routinely represent insurance carriers in first-party and third-party coverage disputes, including those involving claims of bad faith, deceptive trade practices, insurance code violations, and insurer negligence. We have also been involved in market conduct litigation, ranging from agent misrepresentation to compliance issues.

Our experience is expansive, spanning a number of fields, including antitrust, construction, drug device and biotech, employee benefits, environmental, fidelity and surety, managed care, personal injury, products liability, and professional liability.

Reinsurance and Excess

Our representation of insurance carriers extends into more concentrated areas of excess and reinsurance coverage. We represent the interests of excess carriers by monitoring and reporting the activities of primary carriers and counsel hired by them, as well as by protecting the excess carrier's interests in coverage litigation. We also represent various ceding carriers and reinsurers, both facultative and treaty, in disputes regarding reinsurance coverage in court and before arbitration panels.

Insurance Liability Defense

We routinely defend insureds in areas including construction, drug and medical devices, employee benefits, energy, environmental law, fidelity and surety, health law, intellectual property, products litigation, professional liability, and transportation.

The firm’s practice unit leaders are available to answer any questions about Strasburger’s capabilities.  To learn more about this practice area, please contact michael.keeley@strasburger.com.
Insurance Counsel & Litigation
OVERVIEW
Strasburger represents primary and excess insurers and reinsurers in a wide array of coverage and defense matters, including complex litigation before state and federal courts  throughout the United States and abroad, as well as before arbitration panels. Our attorneys have been involved in the conception of specialty insurance programs and have provided critical assistance with large claims that implicate multiple layers and periods of coverage.

Coverage and Underwriting Advice

Strasburger's attorneys identify and analyze coverage issues, advising prior to issuance of the policy and throughout the course of coverage litigation, including any appeal. Many of our insurance clients serve specialty markets such as risk pools, governmental liability, and professional errors and omissions. Our experience in analyzing and researching the legal issues arising in those markets helps underwriters formulate coverage proposals that protect the carrier and potential insureds. Strasburger then works with the underwriters, assisting with the drafting of coverage documents in unique and difficult markets. Our experience with coverage documents and endorsements helps carriers limit unintended coverage or gaps in coverage. Once these documents are in place, we address issues raised by a range of policies — including primary and excess policies, as well as reinsurance treaties, and facultative certificates. Strasburger also guides carriers through administrative and statutory issues such as premium rating, surplus lines, and forms approval.

Insurance Litigation

We routinely represent insurance carriers in first-party and third-party coverage disputes, including those involving claims of bad faith, deceptive trade practices, insurance code violations, and insurer negligence. We have also been involved in market conduct litigation, ranging from agent misrepresentation to compliance issues.

Our experience is expansive, spanning a number of fields, including antitrust, construction, drug device and biotech, employee benefits, environmental, fidelity and surety, managed care, personal injury, products liability, and professional liability.

Reinsurance and Excess

Our representation of insurance carriers extends into more concentrated areas of excess and reinsurance coverage. We represent the interests of excess carriers by monitoring and reporting the activities of primary carriers and counsel hired by them, as well as by protecting the excess carrier's interests in coverage litigation. We also represent various ceding carriers and reinsurers, both facultative and treaty, in disputes regarding reinsurance coverage in court and before arbitration panels.

Insurance Liability Defense

We routinely defend insureds in areas including construction, drug and medical devices, employee benefits, energy, environmental law, fidelity and surety, health law, intellectual property, products litigation, professional liability, and transportation.

The firm’s practice unit leaders are available to answer any questions about Strasburger’s capabilities.  To learn more about this practice area, please contact michael.keeley@strasburger.com.

EXPERIENCE
Representative matters handled by Strasburger’s insurance attorneys include the following:
  • Defeated nationwide class certification and obtained summary judgment on all claims in a Lanham Act false advertising suit seeking disgorgement of insurer's profits and an injunction to prohibit certain advertising or request additional disclosures.
  • Secured first dismissal among 15 defendants, without payment, in nationwide class action filed by California non-profit patient advocacy association seeking coverage of proton beam therapy for prostate cancer, as reported in the Los Angeles Times.
  • Obtained a unanimous "take nothing" arbitration award on behalf of a reinsurer of an insolvent Texas insurer in connection with reinsurance for four catastrophic injury claims asserted by the receiver for the insolvent ceding company.
  • Successfully sued Texas State Board of Medical Examiners on behalf of health insurer and its medical director, preempting proposed disciplinary action with ERISA, as covered by the New York Times and Bloomberg Business News.
  • Won declaratory judgment that insurer was not responsible for multiple, substantial oilfield claims which had been settled by the insured without consent, after persuading the court that the insurer had been prejudiced by such settlements.
  • Assisted insurer in resolving devastating injury claims suffered in a construction accident, within policy limits, despite substantial indemnity claims and extra-contractual exposure.
  • Counseled insurer on the scope of potential claims arising from a developing mass tort so insurer could make informed decision about whether to continue the lines of business, as well as whether exposure could be minimized with exclusionary endorsements.
  • Favorably resolved excess carrier's multiple year exposure to numerous continuous injury claims, applying appropriate theories of exhaustion, allocation, and trigger.
  • Persuaded insured to dismiss suit seeking coverage for millions expended in remediating pollution site based upon applicable exclusions in multiple policies.
  • Obtained dismissal of putative statewide, 15,000-member class action by compelling arbitration of breach of contract and fraud claims asserted by physician against health insurer.