Business Insurance Experience

Earlier in his career, Scott represented insurers as coverage counsel under primary and excess Directors & Officers (D&O); Errors & Omissions (E&O); Employment Practices (EPL); and Fiduciary liability insurance policies. In more recent years, Scott’s focus shifted to representing businesses instead of insurers, including by litigating business insurance claims against insurers, assisting businesses in securing insurance coverage for pending claims and other losses, and advising on insurance program structure, placements and renewals.

In addition to D&O, E&O, EPL, and Fiduciary liability insurance policies, Scott’s experience spans the full range of business insurance policies, Cyber; Property/Business Interruption, Product Recall and Contamination, Commercial General Liability (CGL); Crime, and Transactional Risk Policies. While much of Scott’s practice involves day-to-day insurance advice, clients also seek his insurance counsel when facing man-made and natural disasters, financial distress and bet-the-company litigation.

Historic Representation of Insurers

• Monitoring counsel for major group of insurance companies with respect to D&O, Fiduciary, EPL, and Professional Liability Policies at primary and excess levels
• Coverage counsel for major group of insurance companies, including litigation counsel in coverage disputes involving D&O, Fiduciary, EPL, and Professional Liability Insurance Policies at primary and excess levels
• Published cases including U.S. Court of Appeals cases addressing “related claims” provision in D&O policy and “benefits due” exclusion Fiduciary policy

Policyholder Insurance Counseling & Advice

Ongoing insurance representation of corporate policyholders, concerning:

• Business insurance program structure, policy placement and renewal.
• Drafting manuscript policies and endorsements to address unique exposures.
• Policy compliance, policyholder/insurer relationship management and coverage issues related to underlying lawsuits and first-party losses.
• Insurance-related support in M&A transactions and contracts.
• Financial distress, including receiverships and bankruptcies.

Policyholder Insurance Recovery

• Pursued and secured recoveries for separate eight-figure claims under a Strikes, Riots & Civil Commotion Insurance policy and a stock throughput insurance policy, both arising out of the seizure and occupation of a client’s facility by an armed gang in the context of a political upheaval in an LDC.
• Prosecuted and resolved a lawsuit against property insurers that denied coverage for a claim by a refinery suffering more than $100 million in losses relating to a catastrophic flood.
• Represented public energy company with respect to D&O insurance and indemnification issues occasioned by alleged multimillion-dollar embezzlement by CEO and CFO leading to SEC and state securities commission investigations, criminal prosecutions, and multiple shareholder securities class actions and derivative actions.
• Prosecuted and resolved a lawsuit against property insurers that refused to pay policy limits to a public utility in respect of over $70 million in losses caused by a series of earthquakes and tsunamis.
• Resolved before litigation a multimillion-dollar claim against a property insurer for business interruption losses arising from a mass shooting incident.
• Prosecuted a lawsuit and secured summary judgment in favor of a public company food industry client against a pollution liability insurer that refused to provide coverage for bodily injury lawsuits arising from air pollution events.
• Prosecuted a lawsuit on behalf of a pet food ingredient supplier against a general liability insurer that refused to provide insurance coverage for pet food contamination claim; secured summary judgment against insurer in case of first impression under North Carolina law and favorable settlement for amount in excess of policy limits.
• Resolved a multimillion-dollar claim under product contamination/recall policy concerning losses related to pathogen contamination of food products.
• Represented a public technology company with respect to D&O liability insurance and indemnification issues occasioned by SEC investigation and derivative action based on the CEO’s alleged use of corporate assets for personal purposes.
• Secured coverage under fiduciary liability insurance policy for multimillion-dollar settlement of consolidated class and mass actions alleging improper modification/termination of retiree welfare benefits in violation of ERISA.
• Helped secure approximately $170,000,000 in insurance proceeds as insurance coverage counsel to the unsecured creditors committee in the bankruptcy of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.