Pleading and Proving Covered and Non-Covered Liability and Damages in Insurance Liability Suits

Plaintiff's counsel who file civil liability actions anticipating that defendants' liability insurance will fund a settlement or judgment need to understand that the first thing liability insurers do is to answer three questions: Does the insurer have: (1) a duty to defend; (2) a duty to indemnify; and (3) the right to control the policyholder's defense? The answers to these questions derive from a comparison of the language of the insurance policy to the language of the plaintiff's complaint and proof. As a result, plaintiffs' counsel often have vast, untapped power to secure valuable insurance coverage.

Listen as our experienced presenter discusses how counsel can properly plead and prove covered and non-covered liability and damage and can determine whether pre-approved counsel may have conflicts of interest that would entitle the policyholder to independent counsel.

1. Introduction
2. The hypothetical situation
3. Why plead into (or out of) insurance coverage and conflicts of interest?
4. How to plead into (or out of) insurance coverage or conflicts
5. The legal tests to trigger coverages
6. Understanding the liability insurer's coverage challenge
7. How to plead into coverage
8. How to plead and prove disqualifying conflicts of interest
9. Plaintiff's counsel and independent counsel cooperation

The panel will review these and other issues:

• Why plead into (or out of) liability insurance coverage?
• How to plead and prove truthful facts to trigger the duty to defend, prove the duty to indemnify, and possibly ripen appointed defense counsel's ethical conflicts of interest
• How to understand the defendant's insurance coverage
• How plaintiffs and policyholders may properly cooperate to achieve shared goals of securing insurance coverage that benefits both