Allocation of Liability and Exhaustion of Policy Limits: Policyholder and Carrier Perspectives
Indemnity Allocation Among Multiple Policies and Lines of Insurance, Horizontal vs. Vertical Exhaustion, Set-Off and Contribution
Recording of a 90-minute CLE video webinar with Q&A
This CLE course will provide insurance counsel with the latest developments in liability allocation, factors involved in allocation of losses, a review of critical issues in horizontal and vertical exhaustion, the interrelationship between the liability of the primary carrier and the excess insurer, allocation among multiple lines of insurance, and best practices to resolve priority of coverage disputes.
Outline
- Allocation of indemnity among multiple policies; all sums vs. pro-rata allocation
- Allocation among multiple lines of insurance
- Strategies to negotiate effective allocation methodology
- Horizontal vs. vertical exhaustion of policy limits
- Set-off and contribution in settlement
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- Can the limits of triggered policies be stacked in a continuous loss?
- What steps can policyholders and insurers take to recover damages and defend coverage under policies when facing continuous damage claims?
- What are the practice considerations when one claim impacts D&O, E&O, and CGL policies?
- How can counsel resolve issues that arise between the excess carrier and primary carrier when the primary carrier settles for less than the policy limits?
- What are the different rules for tapping excess insurance for continuous injury claims, and how should counsel best reconcile these rules?
Faculty
Jerold (Jerry) Oshinsky
Attorney
Law Office of Jerry Oshinsky
Mr. Oshinsky has almost five decades of insurance coverage experience representing corporate and individual clients and... | Read More
Mr. Oshinsky has almost five decades of insurance coverage experience representing corporate and individual clients and educational and health care institutions. He continues to be regarded as “the foremost practitioner at the policyholder bar.” (Chambers, USA) Mr. Oshinsky also has been selected as an expert testifying witness and consultant for insurance companies in cases that do not present a conflict of interest with his policyholder clients. A good example of the scope of his practice is reflected in his decades of representation of a major life insurance company.
Best’s (2022) and Super Lawyer (2023) continue their recognition of Mr. Oshinsky as the leading policyholder lawyer in Los Angeles. Law Dragon also previously had selected him as a charter member of their Hall of Fame, which includes lawyers from all disciplines. Mr. Oshinsky continues as an arbitration panelist that has been deciding and issuing opinions for more than a decade. He also has served on a dozen or more arbitration panels where he was nominated by the insured and accepted by the insurance company.
Mr. Oshinsky continues to be a co-author of the insurance treatise titled Practitioner’s Guide to Litigating Insurance Coverage Actions. (Original publication date 1998. Recently updated 2022.) The unique approach of this treatise is that it provides real life examples of pleadings at every stage of litigation. The treatise is supplemented by his active participant as a lecturer on insurance coverage issues and the author of many articles and power points in the latest developments of insurance coverage law. Furthermore, Mr. Oshinsky's lifetime support of diversity and the law has resulted in a substantial number women attorneys having become leaders in their practice groups and managing partners and some have become respected members of the judiciary.
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Scott M. Seaman
Co-Chair Global Insurance Services Practice Group
Hinshaw & Culbertson
Mr. Seaman is a commercial litigator and trial lawyer with more than 35 years of experience. Scott is widely regarded... | Read More
Mr. Seaman is a commercial litigator and trial lawyer with more than 35 years of experience. Scott is widely regarded as one of the leading attorneys in the United States representing insurers and reinsurers in property and casualty matters. He is known for employing his deep knowledge of the law and insurance industry, strategic thinking, and honed trial and appellate advocacy to produce creative solutions and outstanding results for clients. Clients regularly turn to Scott and his team for counsel and representation in challenging and high-stakes insurance and business matters. Mr. Seaman has a long track record of successfully representing companies before trial courts, appellate courts, and arbitration panels across the country in a variety of cases and matters involving general liability coverage (primary, umbrella, and excess), professional liability coverage, directors and officers liability insurance, first-party property coverage, bad faith and extra-contractual matters, fee disputes, and facultative and treaty reinsurance contracts. He also advises and represents companies on cyber, privacy, data breach, IoT, nanotechnology, gig economy, viruses and pandemics, representations and warranties, transactional insurance, social unrest, ESG, climate change, and other emerging issues, as well as a wide-range of case-specific and portfolio issues. He also has handled a variety of challenging international, professional liability, health/life science, director and officer liability, tort and product liability, and business and commercial cases.
He was named to the inaugural list of Midwest Trailblazers by The American Lawyer magazine for his "high-profile, complex insurance coverage cases nationwide, which resulted in precedent setting rulings that have altered insurance law." He is co-author of Allocation of Losses in Complex Insurance Coverage Claims (11th Ed. 2023) He is ranked Band I by Chambers USA.
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