Litigating or arbitrating high-stakes insurance and reinsurance disputes requires a deep understanding of the litany of procedural and substantive disputes that have impacted the insurance and reinsurance industries over the past few decades, and a thorough and broad-based understanding of the business, legal, custom and practice, and strategic issues and considerations facing insurance and reinsurance industry professionals.
For the past 25+ years, Mike’s practice has been dedicated to developing that understanding and applying it to reinsurance and insurance coverage dispute resolution. He has counseled, litigated, or arbitrated some of the most high-profile cases in the industry.
Mike has been lead counsel for insurance and reinsurance companies, brokers, and agents in arbitrations, litigations, negotiations, and mediations. He has represented insurers (including captives) and reinsurers in disputes relating to COVID-19; contingent business interruption; long-term care insurance; climate change; sexual molestation and abuse; finite reinsurance (civil and criminal); workers’ compensation carve-out reinsurance; bad-faith run-off practices under traditional reinsurance contracts and loss portfolio transfers, stop loss, and 100% reinsurance agreements; and life insurance and reinsurance, including reinsurance of variable annuities and viatical/life settlements.
The issues involved in these matters have run the gamut, and Mike’s roles have ranged from business analyses and counseling to managing complex arbitrations and litigations involving issues concerning (among many others): misrepresentation, nondisclosure, and rescission; contract construction and underwriting intent; aggregation, allocation and the application of follow the fortunes/follow the settlements; application of contract retentions; rights of recapture; and procedural issues relating to the application of the Federal Arbitration Act, privilege/access to records, consolidation, and security.
Mike’s reinsurance acumen is matched only by his tenacity and willingness to “speak truth to power,” ensuring that client officials have all the information they need to make fully informed decisions about the merits of a case, its costs, and its potential risks.