Introducing the Catastrophic Insurance Coverage Blog

Though I have spoken and written for many years about the rights of corporate insureds to recover policy proceeds for catastrophic (and other) losses, this is my first entry into the blawgosphere (about which my wife, the complex commercial arbitrator and mediator Victoria Pynchon, has been hectoring me for no small amount of time).

My blogger wife recommended that I introduce myself to the law blogging and blawg reading community. I do so here.

I have been representing policy holders in insurance coverage matters for more than two decades. I have sought coverage for my clients for asbestos liabilities, product liability claims, first party property damage and business interruption losses, alleged environmental damage, errors and omissions, and directors and officers liabilities. I have also brought suit against insurance carriers for bad faith. At issue in many of the cases I have handled are hundreds of thousands to billions of dollars.

My clients have included officers and directors; lenders; oil, chemical, and mining companies; casinos; hotel owners and operators; and consumer electronics manufacturers.

I have represented clients in a wide range of insurance recovery matters, including: claims involving directors and officers alleged liabilities; business interruption and first party property damage losses; professional errors and omissions; asbestos; and environmental and product liabilities.

Most recently, I represented the senior lender to the lessee of the World Trade Center in the property damage, business interruption, and liability coverage lawsuits filed in the Southern District of New York arising out of the events of September 11, 2001.

Prior to joining Dickstein Shapiro, I had been a member of Heller Ehrman LLP’s insurance recovery and complex commercial litigation practice groups since 1973.

Since 2003, I have annually been recognized by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business as a leading attorney in the area of Insurance Coverage: California. According to the 2009 guide, I was "identified as a great attorney who provides excellent counsel on coverage issues involving products liability claims, alleged environmental damage, asbestos liabilities, E&O, D&O and first-party property damage and business interruption losses.” I have also regularly been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America and Southern California Super Lawyers.

I am admitted to practice in California and before the U.S. District Courts for the Central, Southern, Eastern, and Northern Districts of California and the Northern District of Illinois; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; and the U.S. Supreme Court. I am a member of the American Bar Association’s Litigation Section, Torts and Insurance Practice Section, and Litigation Section’s Committee on Insurance Coverage Litigation; the State Bar of California; and, formerly, the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Insurance Practice Section Executive Committee.

I have spoken and prepared articles on many insurance coverage issues at a variety of conferences presented by Mealey’s Insurance Publications, the Practising Law Institute, and the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

I am also an Attorney Settlement Officer for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

I am looking forward to engaging in the existing online conversation about the rights of insureds to coverage for their losses and to adding my own experience and insight to those discussions.