Insurance Coverage Litigation
DOCB’s attorneys have expertise in various insurance coverage matters including third-party coverage under various insurance products which include general liability, errors and omissions, and fidelity bond and business interruption policies.
Jaclyn Malyk, who manages the New Jersey office, has a diverse background in insurance coverage. During the first 10 years of her career, Ms. Malyk represented various general liability primary and excess insurance carriers in coverage litigation arising out of underlying long-tail environmental and asbestos/silica exposure claims. Substantive issues arising in those cases included questions regarding differing models of allocation of liability amongst multiple insurers on the risk, trigger of coverage, number of occurrences, whether defense costs are within or outside limits, lost policies, pollution exclusion, completed operations/products hazard exclusion, bad faith, choice of law, and the like. Procedural issues included significant forum competitions and discovery issues of all types, including the discoverability of reinsurance information. Ms. Malyk was involved in such coverage litigations in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, and Alabama.
Other DOCB attorneys have specific insurance coverage experience. Michelle d’Arcambal, a partner in the New York office, has experience representing the National Credit Union Administration (“NCUA”) to obtain fidelity bond coverage in connection with failed banks. In one case, she represented the NCUA in matters involving five failed savings and loans and managed to negotiate fidelity bond coverage without litigation. She has also represented insurers in claims against excess insurers and mortgage indemnity claims.