About the Course
Introduction
This CLE course will provide counsel to insurers and policyholders with an analysis of the scope of an excess insurer's duty to defend and indemnify and a review of the most commonly disputed issues and how to respond.
Description
Key questions regarding applicability of excess liability insurance have become hotly contested in mass tort or mass product liability matters as well as in many directors and officers liability insurance disputes. Yet, few practitioners have extensive hands-on experience in this area.
Complex trials--and worse, do-overs of trials--are increasingly common in high dollar, complex coverage disputes involving excess insurance.
Listen as our authoritative panel of insurance practitioners discusses the nature and extent of an excess insurer's duties, and the policyholder's responsibilities as well, and provides insurer and policyholder counsel with arguments to resolve the frequently disputed issues that arise in the vital context of excess insurance.
Presented By
Mr. Mayerson specializes in complex insurance-coverage disputes including litigation, settlement and advice, and has appeared as counsel in actions seeking insurance recovery for environmental liabilities, asbestos bodily injury claims, product-liability claims, medical-device liability, fidelity losses, errors-and-omissions liability and employment-practices liability matters.
Mr. Seaman is a commercial litigator and trial lawyer with more than 37 years of experience. He is widely regarded as one of the leading attorneys in the United States representing insurers and reinsurers in property and casualty matters. Mr. Seaman is known for employing his deep knowledge of the law, insurance, and financial industries, strategic thinking, and honed trial and appellate advocacy to produce creative solutions and outstanding results for clients. Clients regularly turn to Mr. Seaman and his team for counsel and representation in challenging, complex, and high-stakes insurance and business matters.
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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Date + Time
- event
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
- schedule
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- Scope of the duty to defend
- Absence of underlying exhaustion
- Claims not covered by primary insurer
- Insolvency of primary insurer
- Duty to reimburse defense costs
- Consent requirement
- Interpretation of definition of loss
- Reasonableness of defense costs
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- Will the excess insurer be obligated to reimburse the insured for defense costs--or assume the principal obligation to defend?
- Must an excess insurer contribute to a settlement if the primary policy has not in fact paid its full limits (sometimes referred to as the Zeig issue) and are insurance policies changing in response to decided cases?
- Will the insolvency of the primary insurer trigger the excess policy to drop down to provide a defense?
- How can counsel address exhaustion of primary coverage in mass tort or major liability litigation such that excess coverage is in play?
- The inconsistency of courts in demanding strict analysis and adherence to policy language and how counsel should prepare
- Is the defense obligation of an excess insurer outside of policy limits or subject to the policy limit for "ultimate net loss"?
