Insurance Recovery Litigation and Advice

Potter Anderson & Corroon is the leading law firm in Delaware engaged in the representation of corporate policyholders that seek to obtain insurance coverage for claims that are denied by their insurers.

In representing policyholders in coverage litigation, our attorneys have expertise with respect to coverage issues under various first-party and third-party policies.  The Potter Anderson & Corroon insurance coverage attorneys also have developed expertise with respect to CGL policies through the large number of complex insurance coverage actions filed in Delaware on behalf of Fortune 500 companies with respect to coverage for environmental, products, D&O, and other liabilities.  Through these complex cases, the Potter Anderson & Corroon coverage attorneys have developed an understanding of the various significant policy forms, the underwriting of coverage pursuant to those policies, and the manner in which insurance companies have handled claims with respect to coverage under those policies.  We have achieved through settlement or trial (including two of the longest civil jury trials in Delaware state court history) hundreds of millions of dollars in coverage for the policyholders that we have represented. 

Our insurance coverage litigators also have dealt with typical commercial insurance products, including general commercial liability policies, directors' and officers' liability policies, products liability coverage, Bermuda based and other excess coverage with mandated ADR provisions, first-party property coverage, so-called environmental impairment liability insurance (EIL), insurance coverage for business torts, such as trademark, copyright, and patent infringement, and antitrust and unfair competition liability, coverage for workers' compensation, employment practice liability, errors and omissions, and employee benefits liability. 

In addition to insurance coverage litigation, our attorneys also review corporate policyholders' insurance portfolios and advise them with regard to their overall insurance coverage and the use of captive insurers.

The members of this practice group are actively involved in professional organizations that promote the effective resolution of coverage disputes and the education and training of policyholder lawyers to be effective advocates for their clients.  These organizations include the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association (ABA), as well as various committees and subcommittees of the ABA. 

Representative Matters

Environmental Coverage.  Potter Anderson & Corroon has represented dozens of policyholders, particularly in the chemical industry, in coverage actions in which those policyholders had liabilities for environmental damages arising from the policyholders’ manufacturing operations.  We have obtained recoveries for policyholders through settlement or trial against their insurers for liabilities such as Federal Superfund cleanups and similar state ordered remediation and for third-party bodily injury claims.  Two environmental insurance coverage trials in which we represented North American Philips Corporation and Hercules, Incorporated are the two longest civil jury trials in Delaware state court history.  Other representative corporate policyholders which we have represented in this context are Burlington Northern Railroad Company, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Inc., Lone Star Industries, Inc., Monsanto Company, Exide Corporation, and Sussex County, Delaware.

Asbestos and Products Coverage.  The national asbestos disaster that has clogged the dockets of jurisdictions across the country has led to Potter Anderson & Corroon’s representation of corporate clients seeking insurance coverage under their products hazard and general liability coverage with respect to liabilities arising from asbestos insulation and products containing asbestos.  Our firm has also pursued insurance coverage for products liabilities across a wide spectrum from pharmaceuticals to residential piping to tobacco.  In our products coverage litigation our clients have included Alpharma Inc., CertainTeed Corporation, Conagra Foods, Inc., Combustion Engineering 524(g) Asbestos PI Trust, Dana Corporation, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Inc., Hercules Incorporated, Hoechst Celanese Corporation, I U. North America, Inc., Liggett Group, Inc., Maremont Corporation, Nosroc Corporation, Pfizer Inc., Shook & Fletcher Asbestos Settlement Trust, and United States Gypsum Company, Inc.

Other Insurance Coverage Areas.  The firm’s representation of corporate policyholders extends to a number of other types of coverage litigation, including coverage  for directors’ and officers’ liabilities (AT&T Corp., Oppenheimer Funds, Inc., Sun-Times Media Group, and Delta Financial Corp.);  first-party coverage such as Y2K damages (Unisys Corporation) and Hurricane Katrina (Tyson Foods, Inc.); qui tam claims (Hercules Incorporated); employee benefits liabilities (Alpharma Inc.); workers’ compensation (E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Inc.); advertising injury/Lanham Act claims (Slick 50 Products Corporation); personal injury/malicious prosecution (Toll Brothers, Inc.); and loss mitigation coverage (Oxford Health Plans, Inc.).