Practices | Business Law

Insurance

Bernstein Shur’s Insurance Group represents policyholders and insurers in a wide variety of insurance claims arising under comprehensive general liability, property damage, business interruption, boiler and machinery, builder’s risk, automobile, health, disability, and fidelity fund policies. The size and scope of these matters range from tens of millions of dollars in losses from damage to process or generating equipment at power plants and other energy-related facilities located in the developing world (including, for example, India, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil) to bodily injury and property damage claims stemming from automobile accidents.

Although claims are often resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, the members of the Insurance Practice Group also litigate insurance coverage claims in the state and federal courts. Our members have extensive experience in the courts of Maine; however, we feel equally comfortable litigating matters in other courts around the country. Several members of the Group are admitted to practice in other jurisdictions, and many members have been specially admitted to practice in other courts in a variety of coverage and other insurance matters. We have successfully litigated coverage matters on behalf of policyholders in, among other categories, multi-million dollar first party property coverage claims and advertising injury claims. Beyond our successful representation of a wide variety of policyholders, members of the Insurance Practice Group have also secured favorable judgments and settlements on behalf of insurers in multi-million dollar environmental insurance coverage matters, automobile liability claims, and health policy coverage disputes. Members of the Group also represent disability insurers, ERISA plan administrators, and employers, specializing in litigating matters involving group and individual disability claims.

In addition to its litigation focus, the Insurance Practice Group also assists policyholders in their dealings with brokers and underwriters, both in the U.S. and in the London market, including the evaluation of proposed and existing insurance programs and the negotiation of insurance provisions in large construction contracts. Due to our broad focus on the negotiation, maintenance, and interpretation of insurance policies, our members have developed familiarity with a wide range of intricate insurance-related issues, including choice of law concerns, the Inchmaree Clause, notice and proof of loss requirements, all-risk and defined-risk coverage exclusions, and reinsurance issues.

A number of the Group’s attorneys are members of the Defense Research Institute and its Life, Health, and Disability Committee.