Bad Faith Litigation and Ignorance of the Law: Meeting an Insurer's Duty to Know the Law Without Losing Privileges

Course Details
- smart_display Format
Live Online with Live Q&A
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
Intermediate
- work Practice Area
Insurance
- event Date
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
-
This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
This CLE webinar will discuss an insurance company's duty to know the law, the duty to explain denial of claims, what an adequate and proper claim denial looks like, how these duties affect the assertion of privilege, and how to stem erosion of evidentiary privileges in bad faith litigation.
Faculty

Mr. Boone focuses his practice on a wide range of corporate, executive and professional liability matters as both coverage and defense counsel. He has appeared on behalf of insurers, entities and individuals before federal and state courts throughout the United States at both the trial and appellate levels. Mr. Boone also has extensive experience in resolving legal issues prior to litigation, which includes everything from monitoring sensitive and complex insurance coverage matters to representing clients in a variety of federal, state and internal investigations. He has also advised numerous established and startup companies regarding corporate governance matters and currently serves as a director or adviser on several corporate boards.
Ms. Dinneen is a founding member of Strauss Massey Dinneen llc. She is an experienced litigator and advisor, defending her insurance company clients against fraud, extra-contractual/bad faith claims, catastrophe claims, and coverage disputes. Ms. Dinneen has obtained multiple zero verdicts for her clients in both bench and jury trials and has authored state and federal court appellate briefs that resulted in favorable rulings for the insurance industry. She represents large companies in affirmative actions and has partnered with insurers to coordinate institutional discovery in large-scale hurricane litigation. Ms. Dinneen also represents local businesses on intellectual property and other matters.

Mr. Korde has helped policyholders recover over $1 billion for first party, business interruption and contingent business interruption losses. Those losses include significant damages to skyscrapers, total supply chain failures, and business interruptions losses arising out of the inability to conduct interbank transactions. They also include cyber losses, such as computer security infrastructure failures, the loss of sensitive consumer and policyholder financial information, and contingent business interruption losses arising out of internet-related failures. Mr. Korde has resolved or litigated numerous cases involving insurance for hurricanes, floods, terrorist attacks, oil refinery explosions, disasters at chemical plants, supply chain failures, environmental damages, asbestos claims, MTBE claims, and natural resources damages. He has helped negotiate multi-million dollar payments under D&O policies as well payments for policyholders undergoing bankruptcy re-organization. Mr. Korde has worked with policyholders in the United States, in Europe, and in Asia. He has advised clients in nearly all sectors of the economy including air travel, back-end computer services, banking, chemical distillation, consumer products, financial services, hotels, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, petroleum, and travel services.
Description
Claim adjusters must have at least a baseline understanding of the relevant state's law necessary to perform their duties of reviewing claims and explaining the reasons for denying a claim. Ignorance of the law will not save an insurer from a bad faith claim for improper denial. But adjusters must be careful not to engage in the unlicensed practice of law.
If adjusters lack this basic understanding of the law, they must seek out those with the requisite tools and knowledge, who are frequently claims coverage counsel. Current trends and decisions, however, have eroded insurers' ability to assert attorney-client privilege or the work product doctrine for coverage counsel's files, making them discoverable in the most mundane of cases.
Insurance companies should understand—and make sure their claims handlers and counsel understand—the boundary lines between privileged legal work and discoverable claims handling. Policyholder counsel should likewise understand when it makes sense to challenge insurer attempts to protect ordinary course claims handling documents or communications using the attorney-client privilege (or work product protection).
Listen as this experienced panel discusses the insurance company's duty to know the law, the duty to explain denial of claims, what an adequate and proper claim denial looks like, and how to stem erosion of evidentiary privileges in bad faith litigation.
Outline
I. Claim adjuster's duties with respect to legal precepts
II. Defensible claim denial letter
A. Explanation of facts
B. Explanation of law
III. Role of coverage counsel in claims adjusting
IV. Erosion of evidentiary privileges in bad faith litigation
Benefits
The panel will review these and other pivotal issues:
- What constitutes "ignorance of the law"?
- Do non-lawyers writing claim denial letters that explain the law engage in the unauthorized practice of law?
- What does a complete and defensible claim denial letter look like?
- Are evidentiary privileges less likely to be upheld in bad faith cases?
- What types of deposition questions can imperil evidentiary privileges?
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