Choice of Law in Insurance Coverage Disputes: Strategies and Perspectives From Policyholder and Insurer Counsel
Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
- work Practice Area
Insurance
- event Date
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
- schedule Time
1:00 PM E.T.
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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This CLE course will guide counsel in choice of law issues and strategies in insurance coverage disputes, including how different jurisdictions approach conflicts of law and the various choice of law tests adopted by the courts, recent and future trends, and strategic and practical considerations for resolving these issues.
Ms. Corrao represents insurers and reinsurers on a range of matters, from providing pre-dispute advice and legal analysis of specific contract provisions and coverage issues to working to resolve complex disputes before courts and arbitrators. Her experience centers on difficult coverage issues such as allocation of liability, trigger of coverage, and issues pertaining to excess insurance such as horizontal versus vertical exhaustion. Ms. Corrao also focuses on coverage questions pertaining to cyber risks, such as claims involving business e-mail compromise claims. In addition, she represents clients in a variety of other matters ranging from class action securities litigation to environmental, toxic tort, product liability, and sexual misconduct claims, addressing such issues as an insurer’s defense obligations, conditions of coverage, corporate successorship, and policy exclusions, to name a few.
Mr. Moren specializes in commercial litigation. He also counsels corporate policyholders on insurance issues and helps them resolve disputes with their insurers. Mr. Moren regularly writes for several firm blogs, including Trust Anchor (Cybersecurity & Data Privacy) and Trade Secrets Watch.
One of the most significant issues in insurance coverage litigation is the choice of law to be applied. The judicial resolution of many significant coverage issues often differs significantly from state to state. The determination of which state's law applies to the coverage dispute may be one of the most crucial determinations, and understanding how the forum court arrives at an answer on that application can mean the difference between winning and losing for clients.
Courts faced with a conflict of laws that will significantly impact the outcome of a particular case have benefitted from a few doctrinal formulations created to ease deciding these problematic cases. And perhaps none have proved so influential as those put forward in the Restatement of Conflict of Laws.
While one preferred solution to the difficulties posed by conflicts of law is for parties to agree in advance to the law that will govern their insurance agreement, even this can face significant challenges when applied. Besides the reluctance of insurers to make such agreements and the potential risks to insureds inherent in allowing insurers to choose their preferred rules, agreements to be bound by the laws of a particular jurisdiction frequently face even greater hurdles in court.
Listen as our authoritative panel of insurance practitioners provides guidance on choice of law issues and strategies in insurance coverage disputes, including how different jurisdictions approach conflicts of law and the various choice of law tests adopted by the courts, recent and future trends, and strategic and practical considerations for resolving these issues.
- Overview
- Choice of law tests
- First Restatement
- Second Restatement
- Other multifactor tests
- Recent decisions and trends
- Contractual choice of law clauses
- Strategic and practical considerations
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- What are the various choice of law tests employed in different jurisdictions?
- What strategic and practical considerations must be taken into account?
- What are the current choice of law doctrines and possible future developments?
- What is the current state of play for choice of law provisions in insurance policies?
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