Select a Practice Complex Dispute Resolution Corporate & Finance -Banking -Broker-Dealer -Communications -Education -Energy Transactions -Environmental -Executive Compensation -Financial Institution Dispute Resolution -Investment Companies -Joint Ventures -Licensing -Life Sciences -Mergers and Acquisitions -Private Equity -Real Estate -Restructuring -Sale & Leasebacks -Tax -Trusts & Estates Energy -Regulatory   -Electrical Industry   -Natural Gas, LNG, and Water Supply Industries   -Transactional   -NERC Reliability Standards -Transactions   -Mergers and Acquisitions   -Project Development   -Financing   -Energy-Related Agreements   -Ownership Arrangements   -Regulatory Structuring & Approvals   -Taxes -Renewables   -Wind   -Solar   -Hydroelectric -Energy Litigation -Compliance, Investigations, and Enforcement Government Law & Strategy -Government Contracts   -False Claims Act Investigations and Defense   -Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) -Public Policy & Law   -Homeland Security   -Congressional Investigations   -Political Law -State Attorneys General Insurance Coverage -Commercial General Liability -Crime and Fidelity -Employment Practices Liability -Entertainment Industry Losses and Claims -Environmental -Errors and Omissions (Professional Malpractice) -Executive Liability -Food and Product Contamination -Insurance Broker Liability -Insurance Policy and Risk Audit -Political Risk Insurance -Property and Business Interruption Losses Intellectual Property -Patent Litigation -Trademarks -Patent Prosecution -IP Portfolio Development and Counseling -Licensing -Due Diligence -IP Monetization -Computer Science -Life Sciences and Chemicals -Semiconductors -Copyrights Litigation -Antitrust & Financial Services -Business Litigation -Defending and Resolving Class Litigation -Employment   -Employment Litigation   -ERISA   -Immigration -Energy Litigation -False Claims Act Investigations and Defense -Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) -Financial Institution Dispute Resolution -Financial Restructuring & Bankruptcy -Government Contracts -Insurance Coverage -IP Litigation -Securities - Litigation, Regulatory, & Compliance -State Attorneys General -White Collar Criminal Defense & Investigations   -Securities Enforcement   -Internal Corporate Investigations   -White Collar Criminal Defense   -Shareholder Derivative Actions   -Congressional Investigations

Dickstein Shapiro attorneys have years of experience representing entertainment and sports clients, including major motion picture studios, major record companies, production companies and their affiliates, talent agencies, venues, athletes, musicians, actors, owners, and other entities and individuals involved in various aspects of the entertainment and sports industries. For example, the firm has successfully represented clients in disputes with their insurers that involve almost every aspect of the entertainment and sports industries, including disputes over idea submission claims, copyright, patent, and trademark infringement, revenue shortfall, production package and cast insurance, event cancellation, privacy and false light claims, and property destruction. The firm has handled all aspects of these disputes, from negotiated pre-litigation resolutions to lawsuits brought on behalf of its clients against their insurers, through the appellate level. A number of the firm’s insurance coverage attorneys also have experience handling underlying entertainment disputes as well as insurance coverage issues. This experience enhances their understanding of the unique issues that arise in entertainment and sports disputes and enables them to approach insurance issues with a practical and substantive knowledge of the underlying business and legal issues. Therefore, they are able to help their clients maximize the value of their insurance—obtaining insurance recoveries to pay for the defense and indemnity of a wide range of claims, losses suffered from disasters, cancellations, production or performance interruptions, and losses and claims associated with intellectual property, competition, websites, and distribution and marketing of content.

New Appleman Sports and Entertainment Insurance Law & Practice Guide

A team of Insurance Coverage Practice attorneys wrote and edited the definitive guide to the many potential risks and complementary insurance coverage options for the entertainment and sports industries. The guidebook, published by LexisNexis Matthew Bender, offers a broad survey of case law, insurance coverage options, and practical advice for dealing with coverage disputes. Each efficiently organized, user-friendly chapter includes illustrative case examples, strategic points, areas of caution, and helpful cross-references within the guide itself.

Combining analyses of insurance coverage law specific to the entertainment and sports industries with useful guidance on issues involving insurance for both individuals and entities in the industries, the guidebook is available for purchase from the LexisNexis online bookstore.

The guidebook’s rich collection of compelling entertainment and sports cases helps bring the underlying legal concepts clearly to light. While the overall focus of the book is on insurance coverage, it discusses hundreds of claims and lawsuits within the entertainment and sports industries, highlighting the broad spectrum of potential liabilities those in the industries may face.

The book’s first two chapters provide detailed overviews and key case summaries from decades of claims and losses in the sports and entertainment industries, providing a useful starting point in any consideration of possible liabilities and losses. These chapters (and many others) include summaries and discussions of:

• A case involving a brawl between players and spectators at an NBA game to discuss intentional conduct of participants and the associated liabilities, as well as many other cases involving spectator or participant injuries;
• A headline-grabbing case concerning Oprah Winfrey that illustrates defamation liability issues; 
• An event cancellation related to the 2001 Ryder Cup Golf Tournament, which was postponed due to the terrorist attacks of September 11; and 
• A rights-of-publicity case involving a video game character and its alleged resemblance to a lead singer of a popular music group, among numerous other topics.

Complete Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Entertainment and Sports Liabilities
Chapter 2: Entertainment and Sports Losses
Chapter 3: Insurance Coverage Overview
Chapter 4: Policy Conditions
Chapter 5: Duties of Insurers
Chapter 6: Bad Faith Liability and Punitive Damages
Chapter 7: Commercial General Liability Insurance
Chapter 8: Errors and Omissions/Media Liability Insurance
Chapter 9: Directors and Officers Liability Insurance
Chapter 10: Employment Practices Liability Insurance
Chapter 11: Workers’ Compensation and Employers’ Liability Coverage
Chapter 12: Coverage After Mergers and Acquisitions
Chapter 13: Overview of First-Party Insurance
Chapter 14: Property and Time Element Insurance
Chapter 15: Production Insurance
Chapter 16: Event Cancellation Insurance
Chapter 17: Other First-Party Insurance for the Entertainment and Sports Industries
Chapter 18: Maximizing Catastrophic Loss Coverage for Insured Individuals and Small Businesses
Chapter 19: Considerations in Coverage Disputes
Chapter 20: Insurance Broker Liability

Preview Chapters for Download
Chapter 8—Errors and Omissions/Media Liability Insurance
Chapter 16—Event Cancellation Insurance

Complimentary previews of two of the book’s 20 chapters are available for download. Chapter 8 of the guidebook addresses entertainment errors and omissions/media liability insurance. Such policies are intended to cover claims likely to be brought specifically against entities and individuals in the media and entertainment business. The policies typically provide coverage for claims regarding infringement of intellectual property rights and certain privacy and reputational interests, including:

• Invasion of privacy or infringement of the right of publicity;
• Libel, slander, and defamation; 
• Breach of implied or implied-in-fact contract arising out of the submission of ideas or other material; 
• Infringement of copyright; and 
• Plagiarism, piracy, and unauthorized use of names, trade names, trademarks, and similar types of claims.

The chapter addresses the key aspects of the insurance, touching on the scope of coverage, special issues relating to who is an insured under the policies, as well as key exclusions of which policyholders should be aware.

 

Chapter 16 focuses on event cancellation insurance. Coverage for special events can be a key component of any entertainment or sports entity’s overall insurance portfolio, as such events are important components of the industries’ overall business models.

The chapter provides an overview of these policies, which are intended to provide financial compensation for losses stemming from the cancellation, postponement, or relocation of insured events ranging from rock concerts, tournaments, theatrical productions, and trade shows to sporting events and many others. The coverage can protect policyholders from a broad range of financial losses associated with organizing, promoting, sponsoring, and financing such events and productions.

Chapter 16 includes an overview of event cancellation insurance and features a comprehensive section on determining whether event cancellation insurance covers a particular event. The section addresses:

• Assessing the scope of event cancellation coverage;
• Exclusions from event cancellation coverage; 
• Causation issues in the context of event cancellation coverage; and 
• The policyholder’s duty to mitigate damages.

Copyright © 2010 Matthew Bender & Company, Inc., a member of the LexisNexis Group. Reprinted with permission from New Appleman on Insurance: Current Critical Issues in Insurance Law. All rights reserved.