Covington & Burling LLP | About the Firm

Insurance Coverage Litigation

Our insurance coverage litigators have acted as trial counsel for insurance policy holders in numerous lawsuits over coverage for environmental cleanup liabilities, mass product liability, directors & officers claims, false advertising claims, media, software, financial institutions and other errors & omissions claims, business interruption losses resulting from hurricane, tornado and other catastrophic events, etc. The San Francisco office provided lead trial counsel for Exxon Mobil in its massive lawsuit against more than 100 different insurer groups over more than $2 billion in coverage for environmental cleanup liabilities associated with more than 5,000 contaminated sites located throughout North America. We have also successfully tried to verdict several phases of the landmark California Asbestos Insurance Coverage Cases (52 Cal.Rptr.2d 690), which the Washington Post described as “the largest trial in U.S. history,” leading to recoveries in excess of $2 billion.

Honors for our insurance practice include:

Best Lawyers in America (2007) in three separate categories: Commercial Litigation, Insurance Law, and Personal Injury Litigation;
Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2006); ranked in the "first tier" of leading policy holder lawyers in California;
Lawdragon 500: Leading Litigators in America (2006);
Guide to the World's Leading Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers, Legal Media Group (2006); and
The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers (2006).

Recent representations include:

Adelphia Communications, Homestore, InterMune, Salesforce.com, World Access, and individual directors and officers, in disputes over claims under D&O insurance policies.
ExxonMobil, McKesson, Vulcan Materials and other companies in litigation over major claims to coverage for mass tort and environmental liabilities.
Home Shopping Network, McDonald’s and other companies in seeking to compel their media and advertising liability insurers to cover unfair competition claims.
Various companies and partnerships with respect to complex insurance claims for business interruption losses, employment practices liability, professional liability and other types of losses.

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