(New York, NY)—Dickstein Shapiro LLP’s Insurance Coverage Practice has secured a major allocation ruling for its client, a global pump manufacturer, in a lawsuit seeking insurance coverage for asbestos liabilities. The ruling is significant because it provides the firm’s client with more than $245 million in available insurance policy limits than its insurers had contended.

“This is a wonderful outcome for the client,” said Robin Cohen, deputy practice leader of Dickstein Shapiro’s Insurance Coverage Practice and managing partner of the firm’s New York office. “The court’s well-reasoned decision is in full accord with New Jersey allocation law and will be relied upon to the benefit of policyholders in many future cases.”

The firm’s client is insured under several multi-year insurance policies that each state a per occurrence limit of liability. The insurers argued that the policies should be treated as providing the per occurrence limit only one time for the entire duration of the multi-year policy. In its November 18, 2009 decision, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Morris County (Hon. Robert Muir, Jr., Retired and Temporarily on Recall) held that each multi-year insurance policy provides a per occurrence limit in each and every annual period. This means that an insurance policy issued for a three-year term with a per occurrence limit of $10 million would provide $30 million in limits rather than $10 million.

The Dickstein Shapiro team is led by Robin L. Cohen and Kenneth H. Frenchman, and includes Elizabeth A. Sherwin, William E. Denver, Jared Zola, and Andrew N. Bourne. The issue was successfully argued to the trial court by Jared Zola.

Dickstein Shapiro’s premier Insurance Coverage Practice represents policyholders around the country in disputes with insurance carriers. More than 80 of the firm’s attorneys devote the majority of their time to insurance coverage matters. Dickstein Shapiro’s Insurance Coverage attorneys have recovered billions of dollars on behalf of their clients through settlements and litigation throughout the United States.

Dickstein Shapiro LLP
Dickstein Shapiro LLP, founded in 1953, is a multiservice law firm with more than 400 attorneys in Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, DC. The firm’s clients include more than 100 of the Fortune 500 companies, start-up ventures and entrepreneurs, multinational corporations, leading financial institutions, major motion picture studios, charitable organizations, and government officials. Dickstein Shapiro’s core practice groups—Antitrust & Dispute Resolution, Business & Securities Law, Corporate & Finance, Energy, Government Law & Strategy, Insurance Coverage, and Intellectual Property—involve the firm in virtually every major form of counseling, litigation, and advocacy.

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Related Employee(s): Jared Zola
Related Practice(s): Insurance Coverage