Insurance Disputes - Goodman Law Group Chicago

BUSINESS INSURANCE COVERAGE AND RECOVERY DISPUTES

Businesses buy insurance to manage risk. But too frequently, they find that the benefit of the coverage they purchased is elusive when the risks for which they purchased insurance materialize. Instead of protection, insurers respond with denials. However, an insurer’s denial need not be the final word. Our focus is fighting for businesses and helping them to secure the protection they purchased. Whether it be securing a defense in bet-the-company litigation or recovering insured losses, we are experienced insurance advocates who will not back down from a fight.

Though insurance programs are often intentionally opaque, we are fluent in policy language. We help clients understand their insurance policies, enforce their rights, and recover money that’s owed to them.

Business insurance litigation is a niche focus within business law, and our team has substantial experience aggressively taking on denied claims. Our persistent approach to insurance litigation has helped businesses recover millions of dollars from their insurance carriers, in many cases after the business had been told by their brokers and other lawyers that their case was unlikely to succeed.

In addition to sheer perseverance on every case, we deliver success because we are

Aggressive — Facing off against insurance companies has confirmed that their business model is designed around denying claims and assumes that policyholders will surrender. The only way to prevail in these disputes is by fighting back, aggressively and persistently, and using all the tools available through the justice system to make insurers meet their obligations.

Experienced — Insurance policies are intentionally crafted to be confusing. Fortunately, Goodman Law Group | Chicago’s many years of experience in insurance litigation have made us fluent in policy language and very comfortable working in the “gray areas” that require strategic thinking. We are skilled at finding the needle in the haystack: the clause or words that we are able to use to compel the insurer to deliver the coverage our clients purchased.

Independent — Unlike many law firms, we never have and never will represent insurance companies, period. We have built our firm on advocating for policyholders.

Proactive — The best kind of insurance litigation is the kind that never happens. We help our clients prevent disputes through proactive audits of contracts and insurance coverage portfolios to identify potential risks and craft strategies for mitigating those risks.

Client Successes

Precedent-Setting BIPA Ruling — When a manufacturing company was hit with a lawsuit alleging violations of the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA), we compelled the client’s insurer to cover the costs of its defense. This ruling set a new precedent in Illinois, creating an avenue for other companies facing similar circumstances to secure coverage under their commercial general liability (CGL) policies.
Pandemic-Related Coverage Judgment — We represented a national chain of dental practices in a coverage dispute involving revenue lost due to government-ordered pandemic closures. The insurer sought to treat all 72 of the client’s offices as a single closure occurrence and offered a minimal payment; however, we successfully argued that each jurisdiction’s business shutdown order was a separate occurrence, which led to a substantial insurance recovery for the client.
Power Plant Damage Recoveries — When a demolition project at a major Indiana power plant went awry, causing substantial damage to the plant and the local power grid, we obtained recoveries from two insurance companies to fund the extensive repairs necessitated by the mishap.
Cyber Loss Recovery — We secured a multimillion-dollar insurance recovery for a large construction firm resulting from cyber losses caused by a server failure that stalled the construction of a large Canadian hospital.

First-Ever LEG3 Endorsement Ruling — We obtained an important insurance recovery for the multimillion-dollar expense our client — a joint venture between Granite Construction and Archer-Western Construction — incurred to repair its own defective workmanship on a bridge it constructed in Washington, D.C. This precedent-setting win was the first case to address the LEG3 endorsement found in many builders risk policies, confirming that the popular endorsement provides coverage for physical damage caused by the insured’s defective workmanship, design, or materials.
Settlement Counsel and Related Funding — We served as settlement counsel for a chemical manufacturer that was alleged to have contaminated the water supply for a city in Michigan. We also secured over $25 million of insurance recovery that funded the settlement of the related toxic tort and environmental litigation.
Non-Neutral Arbitration Recovery — We secured a 100% recovery for a policyholder in a dispute over attorneys’ fees for a litigation matter as a non-neutral arbitrator. The insurance company maintained that, according to a provision in the insurance contract, reimbursement was capped to the rates it paid for similar representation. Given the complexity of the litigation, the resulting legal fees were substantially greater, and our client was forced to pay the difference out of pocket. Serving as a non-neutral arbitrator, we successfully advocated for the policyholder to the opposing arbitrators and secured full reimbursement by the insurer.

Let us know if you’d like to schedule a review of your contracts and agreements to keep your business safe.

BUSINESS INSURANCE COVERAGE AND RECOVERY DISPUTES

Client Successes

GOODMAN LAW GROUP | CHICAGO 20 N CLARK ST #3300 CHICAGO 60602 TEL 312 626 1888