Covington & Burling LLP operates as a limited liability partnership worldwide, with the practice in England and Wales conducted by an affiliated
limited liability multinational partnership, Covington & Burling LLP, which is formed under the laws of the State of Delaware in the United States
and authorized and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority with registration number 77071..
Rukesh Korde has helped policyholders recover over $1 billion for first party, business interruption and contingent business interruption losses. Those losses include significant damages to skyscrapers, total supply chain failures, and business interruptions losses arising out of the inability to conduct interbank transactions. They also include cyber losses, such as computer security infrastructure failures, the loss of sensitive consumer and policyholder financial information, and contingent business interruption losses arising out of internet-related failures. Rukesh has resolved or litigated numerous cases involving insurance for hurricanes, floods, terrorist attacks, oil refinery explosions, disasters at chemical plants, supply chain failures, environmental damages, asbestos claims, MTBE claims, and natural resources damages. Rukesh has helped negotiate multi-million dollar payments under D&O policies as well payments for policyholders undergoing bankruptcy re-organization. He has worked with policyholders in the United States, in Europe, and in Asia. Rukesh has advised clients in nearly all sectors of the economy including air travel, back-end computer services, banking, chemical distillation, consumer products, financial services, hotels, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, petroleum, and travel services.
Rukesh has settled and litigated insurance coverage claims for:
The September 11 terrorist attacks, including coverage for property damage, for temporary property to accommodate displaced workers and for losses from the resultant economic downturn;
Property damage, business interruption and consumer displacement losses arising out of Superstorm Sandy;
Mass torts, such as alleged exposure to toxins after an explosion at a chemical plant and exposure to asbestos containing materials;
Hurricane and monsoon related damage to hotels and factories, including those with significant pre-existing problems;
Crime and fidelity losses related to employee embezzlement; and
Long-tail claims, such as environmental cleanup, including disputes about the “sudden and accidental” pollution exclusion, the expected or intended exclusion and alleged late notice.
Business Interruption: helped a travel services company develop a strategy to successfully obtain insurance for the disruption to the worldwide travel market by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Property Damage: convinced a group of insurers to cover hundreds of millions of dollars of additional real estate expenses after catastrophic damage to a policyholder’s headquarters forced it to obtain alternate facilities in an extremely difficult real estate market.
Mitigation Expenses: successfully advised an Indian-American joint venture after it voluntarily shut down a glass furnace -- and so incurred significant property and business interruption losses -- during a massive flood.
Sandy: helped a number of financial services companies recover business and contingent business interruption losses resulting from Superstorm Sandy, including losses related to the shutdown of the New York subway system, the closure of numerous small businesses throughout the area and the inability to travel into and out of Manhattan.
Litigation
Environmental Coverage: litigated numerous environmental coverage cases, and recently tried an environmental insurance case to a jury focusing on the issue of the whether the predominant cause of the damage was the sudden and accidental rupture of the landfill lining by a garbage truck.
Contingent Business Interruption: litigating a contingent business interruption coverage case for a company after the supplier of a critical raw material shut down.
Insurer Defenses: repeatedly succeeded in knocking numerous insurer defenses out on summary judgment and using in limine or other motions.
Insurer Unfair Claims Handling: litigated and recovered for damage to a policyholder’s hotels after hurricane damage, and brought to light the insurer’s unfair claims handling practices and spoliation of critical information.
Asbestos: part of a number of teams that have successfully obtained coverage of asbestos claims while the policyholders were undergoing bankruptcy reorganization under § 524(g), including, among other things, forcing one insurer to post the then largest bond in Ohio history.
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