Schedule/Sessions

Thursday, December 4

Registration

Session 1 - Presentation A: Bad Faith Litigation: Avoiding the Traps, Pits and Snares

• Speakers:

• Larry Beemer, Suite 200 Solutions

• Christopher Carucci, Gallagher Bassett

• George Jackson, Bush & Ramirez, PLLC

• Howard Wollitz, Charlston, Revich & Wollitz LLP

• Harrison Yoss, Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons LLP

Bad faith litigation usually only takes place after a jury renders an adverse decision against an insured.  Savvy plaintiff’s attorneys often try to force insurance adjusters and claims managers into having to answer very difficult questions regarding the handling of the file during the course of the underlying litigation.  Many times the plaintiff’s attorney will ask questions designed to trap unwary file handlers no matter how the questions are answered.  This presentation focuses on those difficult circumstances and provides adjusters and attorneys representing insurance carriers with the weapons to combat such tactics.

Session 1 - Presentation B: Tweet This: Social Media - Liability Exposures and Coverage Issues

• Speakers:

• Sally Combs, Self Employed

• Audrey L. Shields, Golden, Rothschild, Spagnola, Lundell, Boylan, Garubo & Bell, P.C.

• Wendy Wiebalk, NIP Group

The use of social media has exploded in all walks of life.  What was once simply a fun way to stay in touch with friends has now become an integral part of instant communication to a very wide audience, and a core part of business marketing strategy, employment screening, litigation and claim investigation, looking at potential jurors, you name it.  As is the case with any newly burgeoning area, liability and other risks come with the territory, and we need to become increasingly aware of those risks (and the sources of protection if the “inevitable” happens).  In this course, we will address, on a very high level, some of the liability and loss risks potentially associated with Social Media use, how currently available insurance is likely to respond, and finally, uses of Social Media as part of the insurance underwriting and claims process, along with how to minimize associated liability exposures. Participants will walk away from the presentation with a firm understanding of the ethical considerations of attorneys, success stories, and strategies at the same time learning how to properly navigate away from risk.
 

Break

Session 2 - Presentation A: Effective eDiscovery and eStrategies in Extra Contractual Litigation

• Speakers:

• Yvette Auyeung, Zurich North America

• Alison Grounds, Troutman Pepper

• Elizabeth Neumann, CNA Insurance

• Cheryl Renfer, Ironshore Insurance Company

• Gabriela Richeimer, Self Employed

• Wendy Schaffer, Illinois Agricultural Association

Developing a case-specific strategy for handling eDiscovery in extra-contractual litigation can be the single most effective way to reduce costs, burdens, and risks while still getting to the information you need.  Alternatively, poorly drafted protocols can increase costs, risks, and burdens. Our panel will provide real world examples of provisions and strategies that can help focus discovery efforts and highlight commonly missed opportunities and errors. We will discuss key cases and actual orders to highlight creative examples, as well as a few that missed their mark.
 

Session 2 - Presentation B: An Expedited Way to Resolve Coverage Disputes: The Use of Mandatory ADR Clauses in Insurance Policies

• Speakers:

• Mark Bunim, NAM (National Arbitration and Mediation)

• Richard Byrne, L'Abbate, Balkan, Colavita & Contini, LLP

• Jack Lerner, Prudential Financial

• Deborah Masucci, Masucci Dispute Management & Resolution Services

There can be no doubt that insurance coverage litigation can open up the door to a prolonged, time consuming and very costly battle between an insured and its insurers. When an underlying litigation is on-going between a plaintiff and the insured, the coverage dispute, if litigated, becomes a “second-front”, drawing substantial resources from the carrier [and the insured]. In many instances, the devotion of resources to the coverage dispute can impair the insured’s/carrier’s mutual position in the underlying litigation. In this program we will explore using mandatory alternative dispute resolution clauses as part of insurance policies to resolve coverage disputes. The concept is that when a coverage dispute arises that cannot be resolved quickly by a negotiation between the insured (together with its broker) and the claims department, then the parties will be contractually bound to first go through at least one day of mediation, and if still unsuccessful, then the dispute would go to (binding) arbitration. Use of ADR in coverage cases could, if nothing else, streamline the process.
 

Break

Session 3 - Presentation A: Do Ethics Have a Place in Preventing Bad Faith Claims?

• Speakers:

• Jacquelyn Beatty, Karr Tuttle Campbell

• Stanley Greenspan, Crum & Forster

• David M. O'Connor, O'Connor & Associates, LLC

The handling of claims involves a variety of phases and tasks. Failing to adequately investigate to objectively obtain all of the facts surrounding a claim, failing to consider all policy provisions, exclusions and endorsements, failing to communicate in a forthright, understandable and comprehensive fashion with the insured and/or its representatives, failing to consider the impact on representations made by employees or agents of the carrier, failure to properly document files, failure to take into account the interests of the insured, and failure to properly and honestly evaluate coverage litigation can, in the majority of jurisdictions, either violate claim handling regulations and/or lead to extra-contractual exposure.  The purpose of this presentation will be to highlight how distinguishing basic principles of “right” and “wrong” can, without much more, prevent the majority of situations giving rise to such exposure.

Session 3 - Presentation B: Don’t Make Me Use My Outside Voice: Obligations Among the Insured, the Primary Carrier and the Excess Carrier

• Speakers:

• Pete Duncan, FCCI Insurance Group

• John Graham, RSUI Group Inc.

• Susan J. Levy, Levy Pruett Carter

• Jo Allison Stasney, Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons LLP

The “outside voice” can frequently make its way into claims involving a primary and excess insurer.  The primary insurer, weary of its defense obligation, with defense fees and expenses mounting in a claim that will never resolve in its layer, desperately wants to use its “outside voice” to demand that the excess insurer settle ASAP.  The excess insurer, annoyed at the “eleventh hour” proclamation by the primary insurer that the claim against the insured will not resolve within the primary layer and that the defense of the insured has been less than the excess insurer would have liked, yearns to use its “outside voice” to express its displeasure at this unfortunate turn of events.  The insured, feeling “clueless” about the entire process, hankers to use the “outside voice” with whomever involved in the entire process will listen.  Finally, the primary and excess claims representatives both feel the need to use their “outside voices” to deflect the almost certain interrogation from their supervisors regarding this turn of events and the likely inadequate reserves—both defense and indemnity.  This scenario does not even touch upon the multitude of other “outside voice” issues that may arise in a primary/excess insurer situation—defense obligations, drop down obligations, differing coverage positions, allocation issues, exhaustion issues, and on and on….  This presentation will bring to the forefront some of the more prevalent issues between primary and excess carriers and their insureds and potential ways to avoid some of the pitfalls without the necessity of using the “outside voice.”

Keynote Speaker

CLM Holiday Party