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Insurance Coverage

The firm has a broad-based insurance coverage practice representing both primary and excess insurers among all first-party and third-party commercial and personal coverage lines. The firm's insurance coverage practice attorneys have been directly involved in the handling of some of the most significant and complex insurance coverage litigation in Texas. From the multi-million dollar insurance coverage lawsuit to the single-question coverage opinion, the attorneys in the firm's insurance coverage practice area combine the knowledge and experience specific to the practice of insurance coverage with the trial lawyer's mentality. It is this philosophy that has enabled the firm's insurance coverage attorneys to obtain favorable results on behalf of the firm's clients for the last several decades.

In recent matters, the firm has:

  • Obtained a transfer of venue from Jefferson County, Texas to Harris County, Texas as lead counsel for the joint defense in an asbestos insurance coverage action involving more than 30 years of coverage and an allegation of liability in excess of $100 million. Cause No. 2003-03653; Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc. v. AIU Insurance Company, et al., 11th Judicial District Court, Harris County, Texas.

  • Obtained an abatement and dismissal as lead counsel for the joint defense in a multi-million dollar asbestos insurance coverage action filed in Jefferson County, Texas. Cause No. D-156,875, General Electric Company v. Adriatic Insurance Company, et al., 136th Judicial District Court, Jefferson County, Texas.

  • Obtained a take nothing judgment and award of $500,000 in attorneys' fees following a jury trial in an insurance coverage action involving claims-made professional liability insurance coverage. Cause No. 6:03CV270; Executive Risk Indemnity v Memorial Health System of East Texas, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Lufkin Division.

  • Argued the case of Mid-American Indem. Ins. Co. v. King, 22 S.W.3d 321 (Tex. 1995), before the Texas Supreme Court, wherein the Court affirmed the firm's client's judgment against a surplus lines carrier in what is the only reported Texas opinion relating to former Article 1.36 of the Texas Surplus Lines Statute.

  • Represented several national insurers in a multi-billion dollar breast implant insurance coverage case. Cause No. A145672, Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co. and Medical Engineering Corp. v. AIU Insurance Company, et al., 58th Judicial District Court, Jefferson County, Texas.

  • Obtained an agreed non-suit in favor of an excess insurer in an asbestos insurance coverage action in Harris County, Texas. No. 2000-37097; A K Steel Corporation (and as successor in interest to ARMCO, Inc.) v. American Home Insurance Company, et al., 190th Judicial District Court, Harris County, Texas.

  • Represented a national insurer in a series of toxic exposure insurance coverage actions in Cameron County, Texas in which a favorable settlement on behalf of the firm's client was ultimately obtained. Cause No. 96-11-6488-D, Kraft Foods, Inc. v. Home Indemnity Co., et al., 103rd Judicial District Court, Cameron County, Texas; Cause No. 2002-02-713-D; American Employers' Insurance Company v. The Gillette Company, successor-in-interest to P.R. Mallory & Co., Inc., et al., 103rd Judicial District Court, Cameron County, Texas.

  • Served as coordinating insurance coverage counsel for an excess insurer in a $50 million environmental insurance coverage action in Alabama in which a dismissal was ultimately obtained in favor of the firm's client. Cause No. CV9906320; Russell Corporation v. Aetna Casualty & Surety, et al., Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama.

  • Served as statewide coordinating coverage counsel for a national insurer's occupational loss insurance program.

  • Advised a national insurer in the initial policy form drafting process for a Texas occupational loss insurance program.

  • Served as coordinating insurance coverage counsel in Texas for a national insurer's commercial general liability coverage line.

  • Served as insurance coverage counsel in dozens of cases involving wrongful death, catastrophic injury, professional liability, products liability, premises liability, and commercial disputes in which global settlements of both the underlying claims and the coverage disputes were obtained on behalf of the firm's clients.

Members of the Insurance Coverage Group:
Greg C. Wilkins
Leanne Johnson
Curry L. Cooksey
James H. Chesnutt II
Michael J. Truncale


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