Events

Navigating Downstream Waters: Effective Additional Insured and Contractual Risk Transfer Strategies

Friday, May 17, 2024 – 9:30 AM – 10:20 AM PST

Cheryl L. Kozdrey, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
Cynthia Garcia, Bernards
Trevor Resurreccion, Lynberg & Watkins, APC
Cameron Kalunian, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP

One of the hallmarks of the construction industry is allocation of risk, making risk transfer one of the most important aspects of construction litigation. General contractors, trade contractors, service providers, suppliers, and architects invest time and effort to predetermine how the parties hope risk will be allocated. This presentation will focus on risk management challenges and solutions related to indemnification and additional insured issues, including best practices for handling defense, coverage, and common contract provisions. There will be particular emphasis on providing practical tips for parties to obtaining the benefit of their contractual bargain. The panel is comprised of an in-house risk manager, defense counsel (both general contractor and trade contractor counsel), and coverage counsel, who will share both real life examples and case law to convey a broad range of perspectives. Attendees will be provided with key takeaways designed to improve resolution of claims in the construction industry. The goal of this presentation will be to provide high level analysis and practical tips for strategic risk transfer as distinguished from “cookie cutter” tenders.

Covering the Cyber Risk: An Overview of Cyber Risk Under Traditional Policies and the Cyber Policy

May 14, 2024 – 11:00 AM – Noon EST

Join this webinar to learn about the exposure presented by the cyber risk; coverage of cyber risks under traditional policies; the types of cyber policies; and advise businesses on why they should be purchasing a cyber policy.

Blurred Lines - Adjusting Claims in Good Faith

April 18, 2024 – 11:15 AM – 12:15 PM CDT

Speakers:
Dwight Geddes, Metro Claims & Risk Mgmt
Janeen Thomas, Saxe Doernberger & Vita PC

Join this thoughtful discussion of several claims scenarios as we dissect what is considered ethical claims handling and what may cross the line into bad faith.

Fixing My Project – Tips & Pitfalls Regarding Insurance in the Construction Litigation Case

Friday, April 12, 2024 – 10:20 AM – 11:20 AM CST

The worst possible scenario is finding your client in a construction dispute that could have been covered but was not. Our Panel of insurance experts from varying perspectives – in-house, coverage counsel, and industry – will address the moves savvy counsel should make at the outset of the project and when a claim arises. From how in-house and transactional counsel should set up the project to how outside counsel – both litigation and coverage – can position a claim for resolution, this session will help you turn insurance into a tool to protect your project and learn the best practices so your client can clear the typical obstacles to resolution.

Legal Shields for Risky Deals: Navigating Insurance and Contractual Risk Transfer

Master risk management strategy with Michael V. Pepe and enrich your toolkit with deep insights on the relationship between insurance and contractual risk transfer to ensure your clients are properly protected.

Scope of Coverage, Covered Losses, Exclusions, AI Endorsements

Michael V. Pepe, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
Patrick J. Wielinski, Cokinos Young
Christopher Yetka, Larking Hoffman Daly & Lindgren

Construction projects are always at risk for economic losses from unanticipated property damage, additional soft costs, and revenue loss that result in unbudgeted costs that can threaten project completion. Builders risk coverage is a crucial risk mitigation measure for building contractors and developers, as is adequate liability coverage through CGL policies and wrap ups.

Counsel to builders and developers must consider who is covered, what property is covered, what limits and sublimits apply, and when/how coverage applies. Because builders risk policies are not standardized, coverage varies dramatically between insurers. Coverage disputes often arise over the types of costs recoverable, calculation of economic damages, and the coverage exclusions and exceptions.
For liability disputes, CGL coverage must be adequately placed to cover construction risks during the course of construction as well as after. Typical issues include who is covered, the scope of coverage, and exclusions and conditions that apply.

Counsel often must also navigate the interplay between builders risk policies, CGL policies, including wrap policies, and professional liability policies. These issues are influenced by the language of the policies and the parties’ contractual obligations to each other. Attention to the details is necessary to ensure coverage is triggered when necessary.

Maximizing Risk Transfer in Complex Construction Defect Claims

Thursday, March 21, 2024 – 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM PST

Will S. Bennett, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
Steven Cuneo, C.W. Driver

Complex construction defect claims implicate many facets of construction risk transfer. Between insurance and contractual risk transfer, a contractor can either set itself up for success in global resolution of the defect claims or for protracted litigation. This presentation will give participants practical tips for how to maximize risk transfer in these claim. The audience will learn about the significance of, amongst others, the following facets of construction defect risk transfer:

– When a claim is properly submitted under builders risk vs. general liability policies
– OCIPs vs. CCIPs vs. Traditional Annual Insurance
– How to utilize contractual indemnity rights to influence insurance claims
– The role of the general contractor’s corporate general liability program
– Wrap-up exclusions and their exceptions
– Policy limits demands and associated bad faith implications
– Blue Ridge and Buss reservations

The audience will learn how to avoid issues with each of these and gain a better understanding of how to identify them and address them proactively to leverage better outcomes.

Complex Risk Transfer in Agribusiness Claims

March 12, 2024 – 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM PST

This session will walk through a complex, multifaceted claim involving a citrus cooperative and detail how several lines of insurance played a role in achieving a favorable outcome for the insured. It will explore how contractual relationships influence insurance outcomes on specialty lines of agriculture.

Policy Limits Demands: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

March 7, 2024 – 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM MST

Kelly A. Johnson, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
Jennifer C. Kalvestran, Anderson, McPharlin & Conners, LLP
Amanda K. Anderson, Boyle, Leonard & Anderson, PA
Seth M. Friedman, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, LLP

This panel presentation will focus on emerging issues related to the issuance and response to policy-limits demands, including newly adopted statutes in California and Georgia. That discussion will include the similarities between the two statutes and the intent of these statutes to avoid the bad faith “trap” that typically involves policy-limits demands. Second, certain strategies and tactics will be discussed, from a carrier and policyholder perspective, methods to effectively and efficiently resolve dispute in which a policy limits demand was issued, including the response and negotiation of a policy limits demand, either to address timing issues in responding to the demand, requesting additional information, or negotiating to an amount that may differ from the initial demand, based on settlement value and other factors. Finally, panelists will discuss, from defense counsel perspective, their role in participating, negotiating, and facilitating the resolution of an action against his or her client (the insured), when a policy limits demand is issued to the carrier, and/or when the initial demand is subject to negotiation.

The Interplay Between Builder's Risk and CGL Policies in the Construction Industry

March 8, 2024 – 10:45 AM – 11:45 AM MST

K. Alexandra O’Neill, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
Samantha M. Oliveria, Custom House Risk Advisors
Rodrigo Garcia, Thompson Coe Cousins & Irons, LLP
Stella Lane, Markel

Through a discussion of claim examples, the panel will address scenarios involving property damage on construction projects and how builder’s risk and general liability insurance may respond. The panel will address the fundamentals of the insuring agreements, the nuances of triggering coverage, the impact of waiver of claim provisions in construction contracts, and potential exclusions that may leave the project exposed and losses uninsured.

Identifying, Avoiding, Mitigating, and Insuring Environmental Risk in Construction

March 8, 2024 – 1:05 PM – 2:20 PM MST

Tracy Alan Saxe, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
Joe Poliafico, CRP

As new property development is focused on the inner city, waterfront properties, and other historic industrial sites, routine contracting practices may yield environmental hazards and these exposures are not restricted to environmental contractors; GCs, CMs, trades, and Owners all have exposure. This session will explore and present how these issues can be identified and properly addressed during due diligence, pre-construction, insurance and contracting mechanisms.
1. Identification of the specific environmental issues.
2. Insurance coverage types for environmental related losses.
3. Claims mitigation and handling strategies.

The Risk of Delegating Design

As integrated project delivery methods become more common, more and more contractors are taking on design risk. It’s increasingly important for contractors and their counsel to consider how to delegate this risk to their design team, and how to insure it. In this hour-long webinar, Mike will use real-world examples to discuss the risks of project design and strategic methods to manage design risk through contract and insurance.

Insurance 101: Fundamentals of Commercial Insurance Law

Feb. 27, 2024 – 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EST

Brittany Bisson, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
John C. Pitblado, Carlton Fields

This seminar is intended for individuals with little to no insurance experience to familiarize themselves with fundamental areas of commercial insurance coverage, key concepts, and principles from the perspective of a coverage attorney representing policyholders and a coverage attorney representing carriers.

You Will Learn:

• The difference between different types of policies: Commercial General Liability, D&O, Professional, Employee Practices, Property, Builders’ Risk, Pollution, etc., First Party v. Third Party, Occurrence v. Claims Made Primary v. Excess
• How to analyze and understand an insurance policy declarations page
• How to differentiate between grants of coverage and exclusions within insurance policies
• To understand “Additional Insured” coverage and distinguish AI coverage from contractual indemnity
• The distinction between a liability insurer’s duty to defend and duty to indemnify
• The basic issues that arise during coverage analysis and what to expect during insurance coverage litigation

Horizontal vs. Vertical Exhaustion of Insurance: Priority of Coverage and Settlement for Below Policy Limits

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM PST

Anna M. Perry, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
Scott M. Seaman, Hinshaw & Culbertson

Insurance counsel face challenging issues in accessing excess coverage when multiple policies, issued to a single insured, provide coverage to a single claim.

Sometimes issues arise when a loss extends over several years and several sequential policies. In this case, questions may arise as to whether the primary coverage exhausts horizontally or vertically: in other words, whether the insured has to exhaust one primary policy or all primary policies before excess coverage becomes available.

Sometimes issues arise when the insured settles a claim with its primary carrier for less than the policy limits. Tapping the excess policies in these situations requires close attention to the policies’ language and the rapidly evolving law in this area.

Resolving these insurance coverage disputes hinges on understanding the policy language, the contracts between the parties, and the relationship between the primary and excess insurers who may be called on to respond to the loss.

Listen as our authoritative panel of insurance attorneys discusses vertical and horizontal insurance coverage principles, triggering excess policies, and resolving issues with the excess carrier when the primary carrier settles for less than the policy limits.