Insurance Litigation and Arbitration

Insurance Litigation and Arbitration

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As insurance complexities are diversified across sectors and regions, Dentons offers a local, regional, national and global perspective.

Our Insurance team is made up of more than 200 highly experienced and talented lawyers and professionals based in all the major insurance centers throughout Europe, the UK, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Canada, Russia, CIS and the Caucasus, Africa and the United States, including New York, London, Dubai and Hong Kong.

We put our experience with representing some of the world’s largest insurance entities in large, complex disputes and regulatory and reinsurance matters at your service to help you navigate government investigations, securities and consumer class action litigation, and alternative risk transfer. We partner with you to mitigate risks and seize opportunities.

Our lawyers are able to tackle the multitude of issues you face, with expertise in litigation, regulatory compliance, transactions and public policy. Benefit from the skills our seasoned litigators, former insurance regulators and former in-house counsel, bring to help you manage operations, assess risk, address current issues and undertake strategic planning and resolution.

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Experience

National insurance company: Acting as counsel for a CA$50 million patent case involving computerized fuel distribution and payment systems for gas stations, where the insured patent and trade-mark law firm was sued for negligence in the preparation of the various patent applications, resulting in patent registration being ruled invalid. We also represented the insurer in negotiations with the insured firm and the other insurer in a resolution of case, including settlement with plaintiff and resolving allocation between insurers based on equitable contribution and relative exposure.
Enstar: Serving as US liaison counsel in this UK litigation concerning the run-off of Seaton and Stonewall, two US property and casualty insurers with extensive asbestos and other health hazard risks.
Insurance company: Successfully settled at mediation for a nominal payment in a $10 million claim by a provincial government against a pulp and paper company arising out of damages from a forest fire caused by harvesting equipment.
Insurance company: Playing a leading role in the successful defense of an antitrust class action filed in California federal court against a long-time insurance client and several other large insurers. The putative class plaintiffs alleged that the defendants conspired to supply inferior aftermarket repair parts and charge anticompetitive premiums to policyholders in violation of antitrust laws. The court granted defendants' Daubert motion, declaring the plaintiffs' proposed methodology for identifying the allegedly inferior aftermarket repair parts inadmissible. The court also denied plaintiffs' third motion for class certification—this time with prejudice. We also played a central role in obtaining summary judgment in favor of the defendants and an affirmance from the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Life insurance client: In another win for a life insurance subsidiary of a longtime insurance client, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the decision of the Northern District of Illinois granting summary judgment for our client in a nationwide class action. The plaintiffs had sought billions of dollars in damages, alleging breach of contract in our client’s assessment of the COI charges for more than 500,000 policyholders. We fought hard in the district court after lengthy fact and expert discovery, motions for sanctions and motions to strike. In a thorough decision, the three-judge appellate panel affirmed the district court's holding that the construction of the contract terms supported the insurers’ actions in determining the cost of insurance. This is the first federal appellate court opinion on the merits of this issue, which has been raised in several class actions against life insurers. The court's reasoning should help the life insurance industry as a whole in combatting such claims.
Major national insurer: Representing the insurance industry in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Our lawyers were at the forefront of the insurance industry’s defense efforts and represented the industry in many of the most significant cases, including presenting oral argument in the keynote case in which the validity and effect of the homeowner’s insurance flood exclusion was upheld . We also successfully argued key dismissal and jurisdictional motions in actions brought against multiple insurers by the Louisiana attorney general, as well as arguing in numerous matters which resulted in the striking of class action allegations on the pleadings. Our team also obtained major favorable rulings in significant bad faith penalty and False Claims Act cases.
Medical Protective Company: Prosecuting successfully a declaratory judgment action on behalf of our client involving an insured’s assertion of his Fifth Amendment privilege. This case was named “one of the 10 most significant insurance coverage decisions of 2010” by Mealey's Litigation Report.
Insurance client: Obtained a major victory on behalf of longtime insurance client in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, who affirmed the dismissal of a class action seeking approximately US$5 million plus enhanced damages. After the trial court ruled on multiple grounds in our client's favor, plaintiffs challenged only certain of those grounds on appeal. The Eleventh Circuit, in a detailed and fully published opinion, expanded on the waiver/abandonment of claims on appeal doctrine, finding that since plaintiffs did not challenge all of grounds for decision in our client's favor ruled on by the trial court, they had waived and abandoned those arguments, thus justifying affirmance on that basis alone. This decision is significant not only as a full class action victory for our client, but also for the detailed waiver and abandonment discussion, which should offer a useful precedent to our other appellate clients facing similar situations.
Royal Indemnity Company: Acting as counsel in the highly publicized property insurance "occurrence" dispute over the World Trade Center, where Royal prevailed in the trial court and Second Circuit on a significant portion of its coverage.
Royal Indemnity Company: Serving as lead counsel in a month-long jury trial concerning the fraudulent use of surety bonds to facilitate an equipment leasing scheme. Royal and other surety companies had issued $300 million in lease bonds to guarantee payments under commercial equipment leases originated by Commercial Money Center, Inc. (CMC) , which were combined into lease pools and sold to investors or lenders. It came to light, however, that CMC had been operating a Ponzi scheme, using the sale of later lease pools to make payments on earlier defaulted leases. After CMC collapsed, the investors sued Royal and other sureties on the bonds. For Royal, the Dentons team ensured the case was settled favorably, as the federal district court upheld its right to assert the fraudulent inducement defense.
Various Municipalities: Defending municipalities in matters such as: highway non-repair claims alleging road design or maintenance deficiencies, occupiers' liability matters relating to municipal buildings and recreational facilities, injurious communications claims involving defamatory comments or representations made by municipal officials, environmental liability claims arising from municipal sanitary sewage, water or drainage systems, building inspection negligence, public transit liability and other motor vehicle accident claims.

Recognition

Forty-Four Davis Brown Attorneys Listed in The Best Lawyers in America^© 2021

August 20, 2020

United States: Forty-four Davis Brown attorneys were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in the 27th edition of The Best Lawyers in America^© in the Des Moines metropolitan area in their respective fields.

Lexpert recognizes Dentons lawyers as "Canada's Leading Litigation Lawyers”

November 30, 2018

Dentons is proud to congratulate our three lawyers who were listed as “Canada’s Leading Litigation Lawyers” by Lexpert, in its recent special edition on litigation, which appeared in the Globe and Mail's Report on Business magazine.

Dentons ranked across 66 practice areas in Chambers UK 2019 with leading individuals recognised in 110 categories

November 2, 2018

Dentons is pleased to announce that it has been recommended across 66 different practice areas by Chambers & Partners in the Chambers UK 2019 guide.

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Insights

Canadian and global insights from the 2024 Insurance Summit

May 16, 2025

In Fall 2024, Dentons Canada’s Insurance group hosted its inaugural Insurance Summit, an event that brought together industry leaders to explore domestic and global trends, hot topics such as the AI revolution, regulatory updates and more.

Termination Clauses

September 12, 2024

Scotland: Unless you have been living half the world away, you will not have escaped the recently announced Oasis reunion and the subsequent frenzy for tickets to their Oasis Live '25 Tour next July/August.

Representation, Warranty and Indemnity (RW&I) Insurance

March 12, 2024

South Africa: International Perspectives informing a South African approach - Merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions involve a level of risk for buyers. To mitigate the risks, buyers conduct thorough due diligence investigations on target companies, and require sellers to provide representations, warranties and indemnities (RW&Is) in transaction agreements.

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News and Events

Recent Press Releases

Dentons continues to bolster litigation and alternative dispute resolution capabilities in Québec with addition of partner Ioana Jurca

September 3, 2024

Dentons, Canada’s Global Law Firm, welcomes Ioana Jurca as a partner in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution group. Based in Montréal, and with more than a decade of experience handling complex domestic and international litigation and arbitration matters, Ioana has a broad practice that encompasses civil and commercial litigation, class actions, commercial arbitration, professional liability and insurance litigation.

Dentons adds partner Jonathan Shulan to Litigation practice in St. Louis

May 8, 2024

Dentons announces today the addition of Jonathan Shulan to its Litigation practice as a partner, resident in the Firm’s St. Louis office. Shulan represents clients in complex commercial disputes and high-stakes insurance matters.

August 20, 2020

View all press releases for Insurance Litigation and Arbitration

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Insurance Litigation and Arbitration

Insurance Litigation and Arbitration

More About Insurance Litigation and Arbitration

Experience

Recognition

Forty-Four Davis Brown Attorneys Listed in The Best Lawyers in America^© 2021

Lexpert recognizes Dentons lawyers as "Canada's Leading Litigation Lawyers”

Dentons ranked across 66 practice areas in Chambers UK 2019 with leading individuals recognised in 110 categories

Insights

Canadian and global insights from the 2024 Insurance Summit

Termination Clauses

Representation, Warranty and Indemnity (RW&I) Insurance

News and Events

Recent Press Releases

Dentons continues to bolster litigation and alternative dispute resolution capabilities in Québec with addition of partner Ioana Jurca

Dentons adds partner Jonathan Shulan to Litigation practice in St. Louis

Forty-Four Davis Brown Attorneys Listed in The Best Lawyers in America^© 2021

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Insurance Litigation and Arbitration

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More About Insurance Litigation and Arbitration

Experience

Recognition

Insights

News and Events

Recent Press Releases

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