What is the general issue? Why this is important now?
The general issue is what constitutes property damage and direct physical loss under a property insurance policy. It is important because the scope of commercial risks is getting broader, but property polices are not. Insureds and insurance brokers need to understand exactly what the policy is designed to cover so they know when to ask for endorsements or additional policies.
This program will be of use to risk managers, general counsel, CFOs or controllers who are responsible for risk management or insurance, and brokers.
The core concepts are what constitutes physical loss or damage under a property insurance policy, what constitutes insured property, and what is an insurable interest.
Faculty Information
Speaker: Stephen Goldman, Partner, Robinson Cole
Steve Goldman is a nationally recognized trial lawyer with 30 years of experience litigating and trying a diverse range of cases throughout the United States. During that time, Mr. Goldman has served as counsel for insurers in many of the country's most significant property insurance coverage cases, including, most recently, Sher v. Lafayette Insurance Company (upholding the flood exclusion in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina), Landry v. Louisiana Citizens Insurance Company (holding Louisiana's Valued Policy Law inapplicable to certain Katrina-related claims), and Streamline Capital v. Hartford Insurance (refusing to adopt the time necessary to rebuild the World Trade Center as the period of restoration for WTC tenants). As an advocate and advisor for international and domestic insurance carriers and insurance industry organizations, he has handled numerous high-impact cases arising from catastrophes such as Hurricanes Katrina and Andrew, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the anthrax scare in 2001. Mr. Goldman has appeared as counsel in trial and appellate courts in 22 states and has aggressively litigated and, in many instances, tried high-exposure cases throughout the Northeast and in jurisdictions as diverse as Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Iowa. He also has significant experience litigating class actions, especially those based on insurance coverage issues and insurer market conduct.
Mr. Goldman is a prolific speaker on insurance coverage, litigation, and ethics matters and has published numerous papers on these subjects. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Insurance Law since 2006 (Copyright 2012 by Woodward/White, Inc., Aiken, SC). Mr. Goldman has also been named to the Connecticut Super Lawyers® list in the area of Insurance Coverage since 2006 and the Top 50 Connecticut Super Lawyers® for 2010 (Super Lawyers is a registered trademark of Key Professional Media, Inc.).
EDUCATION
-
J.D., New York University School of Law
-
B.A., magna cum laude, Wesleyan University, Phi Beta Kappa
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
-
American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow
-
Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, Board of Directors (2002 to 2009); Member of Executive Committee (2007 to 2009); Admissions Committee (2001 to 2007); Vice President (2002 to 2005), Current Chair of Class Action Section; Past Chair of Property Insurance Section (1998 to 2001) and Ethics and Professionalism Section(2001 to 2002)
-
International Association of Defense Counsel, Property Insurance Committee
-
American Bar Association, Property Insurance Law Committee of the Tort and Insurance Practice Section, Past Chair
-
American Bar Foundation, Fellow
-
Connecticut Bar Foundation, Fellow
-
Loss Executives Association
-
Connecticut Defense Lawyers Association
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
-
Western New England College, served as Adjunct Professor, teaching course in trial practice
-
University of Connecticut School of Law LL.M. Program, served as Adjunct Professor, teaching course in property insurance law
HONORS AND AWARDS
-
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® as Hartford Lawyer of the Year in the area of Insurance Law for 2011 (Copyright 2010 by Woodward/White, Inc., Aiken, SC)
-
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Insurance Law since 2006 (Copyright 2012 by Woodward/White, Inc., Aiken, SC)
-
Listed in Connecticut Super Lawyers® in the area of Insurance Coverage Law since 2006 (Super Lawyers is a registered trademark of Key Professional Media, Inc.)
-
Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, John Alan Appleman Award, 2001
-
Best Appellate Brief in Connecticut, awarded by University of Connecticut, 1992
Speaker: Jay Levin, Counsel, Reed Smith
Jay focuses his practice on representing policyholders in disputes with insurance companies involving all types of insurance coverage. Jay has extensive litigation experience in multi-million dollar property insurance coverage cases, including suits involving policy construction and application, cause and origin, valuation, and business interruption issues. He has assisted clients in successfully resolving eight and nine figure Hurricane Katrina cases without litigation, and successfully representing other policyholders in litigating Katrina cases. Jay represents financial institutions and other commercial policyholders in claims arising under fidelity and crime policies, including claims arising out of defaulted mortgages and employee embezzlement. He has also litigated significant professional liability and general liability coverage cases. In the Directors and Officers liability area, Jay actively works with clients to resolve all types of disputes, including application of exclusions and allocation issues. Jay has also arbitrated cases before the American Arbitration Association and in private binding arbitration. Most of his litigated cases involve allegations of bad faith and he is well-versed in that area, as well.
Jay is an experienced appellate lawyer with over thirty years of experience in briefing and arguing appeals in state and federal court. In addition to insurance coverage cases, Jay has argued cases involving indemnity agreements, case dispositive procedural issues, tort liability and criminal law.
Jay also counsels policyholders in non-litigation contexts. He analyzes coverage after a loss has occurred or claim has been made to assist policyholders in presenting the claim to the insurance carrier. He assists policyholders in responding to inquiries and in pointing out errors in the carrier's coverage position in order to avoid litigating insurance claims, including, inter alia, first-party, professional liability, EPL, D & O, fidelity, crime, and general liability claims. Jay also counsels clients and evaluates coverage in connection with policy renewals, primarily in property, D&O and professional liability insurance.
Jay is an editor and contributing author of the Property Insurance Litigator's Handbook, which was published by the American Bar Association in 2007. He frequently speaks on insurance coverage and has spoken at dozens of programs sponsored by, inter alia, the ABA, American Conference Institute, PLI, Mealey's, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, the Urban Land Institute, and other organizations. He also provides continuing education programs for lawyers and other professionals through Reed Smith University and other organizations. He was the 2007-2008 Chair of the TTIPS Property Insurance Law Committee.
If you intend to take a course for CLE credit, please make sure your state is listed in the "Accreditation" section to the upper right of the program description. Accreditation displayed is unique to the purchased program format (live conference, live webcast, on demand, podcast). Credit totals listed for live conferences are the maximum credits available. Credits issued will be based upon actual time in attendance. Credit totals for other formats are for complete programs. Partial credit is not available for any online or downloadable format.
West LegalEdcenter will not provide accreditation for states not listed.