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  • videocam Live Online with Live Q&A
  • calendar_month December 11, 2025 @ 1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
  • signal_cellular_alt Intermediate
  • card_travel Insurance
  • schedule 90 minutes

Resolving Insurance Coverage in Declaratory Judgment Actions: Considerations for Insurers and Policyholders

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$252.45
Save $44.55

Discount expires 11/27/25

This course is $0 with these passes:

CLE
ALL
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Description

Both insurers and insureds commence declaratory judgment actions seeking clarification of their respective duties and rights under applicable insurance policies: usually whether the insurer has a duty to defend and/or indemnify. Moreover, certain tactical advantages may accrue to the party filing the declaratory judgment action. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully consider when and where to file, who to join in the declaratory judgment case, what relief to seek, and the preclusive effect of any decision. 

When a declaratory judgment action is filed in federal court, significant consideration must always be given to its potential effect on any pending state court action about the underlying claim. In some cases the federal court may abstain, and in other cases it may be prohibited from abstaining. Things can get more complex when deciding whether to commence an action against excess insurers involving multiple claims and multiple insurers take conflicting coverage positions. 

Listen as our authoritative panel of insurance practitioners discusses strategies for bringing or opposing declaratory judgment actions. 

Presented By

Tae Andrews
Senior Counsel
Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP

Mr. Andrews practice focuses on advising corporate policyholders on insurance coverage issues arising under commercial general liability, directors and officers, professional liability/errors and omissions, excess, umbrella, and other types of policies. He has a track record of delivering successful results for clients with D&O, E&O, Property and General Liability Insurance claims. Mr. Andrews previously served as Counsel with a premier insurance recovery boutique law firm in the U.S. focused on helping commercial policyholders reduce and transfer risk. He joined Calfee as Senior Counsel in 2024.

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Thomas Paschos
Managing Partner
Thomas Paschos & Associates PC

Mr. Paschos practices in the fields of professional liability, employment litigation, insurance coverage, product liability, and complex commercial litigation. He represents, amongst others, corporate officers, physicians, dentists, nursing homes, lawyers, accountants, product manufacturers, insurance agents and brokers, architects and engineers, contractors, transportation companies, and insurance companies. Mr. Paschos has been awarded an AV Preeminent rating by Martindale-Hubbell, which identifies a lawyer with a very high to preeminent legal ability. As the managing partner of Thomas Paschos & Associates, P.C., he is responsible for managing the firm’s offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Haddonfield, New Jersey. The firm is a member of the International Society of Primerus Law Firms, and Mr. Paschos was the former Chairman of the Professional Liability Practice Group and is the current Chairman of the Primerus Employment and Labor Group. Additionally, he was the past chair for the Lawyers Professional Practice Group of the Professional Liability Defense Federation. In 2004, and from 2014 to 2020 Mr. Paschos was voted by his peers as one of Pennsylvania’s Super Lawyers.

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Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.


  • Live Online


    On Demand

Date + Time

  • event

    Thursday, December 11, 2025

  • schedule

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

I. Basis for requesting declaratory relief

II. Who can file

A. Litigation advantages to initiating a declaratory judgment

III. Where to file

A. Jurisdiction

B. Venue

C. Choice-of-law

IV. When to file

A. Ripeness

B. Statute of limitations

C. Burden of proof

D. Fee shifting

V. Who to join as parties

VI. Abstention

VII. What can be determined in the action

A. When the issue is duty to defend

B. When the issue is duty to indemnity

C. When the issue is breach of policyholder's conditions

D. When the issue is number of occurrences

E. When multiple carriers are involved

F. Issue preclusion

VIII. What relief can be obtained 

IX. When a declaratory judgment is "final": appeal issues

The panel will review these and other important issues:

  • If damages and declaratory claims are based on the same legal issues, are federal courts obligated to retain jurisdiction?
  • What options exist when some insurance coverage claims are not yet ripe for a declaratory judgment but others could be approaching the statute of limitations cut-off for seeking declaratory relief? 
  • What are the advantages of being the party that files the declaratory judgment action?