Insurance Recovery

With adept understanding of all aspects of insurance coverage, our lawyers advise clients on appropriate coverages and risk management strategies, assist on M&A insurance issues, advise boards, pursue and manage claims, and litigate and arbitrate coverage disputes.

McGuireWoods’ coast-to-coast bench of trial attorneys represents clients in high-profile, bet-the-company coverage litigation with their insurance companies in state and federal courts nationwide. Where possible, we work to maximize recoveries while resolving disputes out of court to maintain clients’ relationships with insurance companies.      

The team also has significant experience representing policyholders in high-stakes international insurance arbitrations in Bermuda, London, Singapore and other leading arbitral venues, as well as in litigation in London involving policies subject to both English and U.S. law.

As trial counsel, we have litigated first- and third-party claims and matters involving captives, reinsurance and self-insurance. Our capabilities and experience in pursuing claims through trial and appeal has increased our clients’ opportunities for early settlement and allowed the firm to recover billions of dollars for our policyholder clients through a combination of trials, appeals, international and domestic arbitrations, negotiated settlements and mediations.

How We Help

We lead disputes involving a broad range of policies and issues, including:

Representative Experience

• Large military shipbuilding company in a nine-figure insurance lawsuit against 32 reinsurers over the company’s COVID-19-related losses in which the Vermont Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s dismissal – marking the first time a state supreme court ruled in favor of insureds on this issue;
• Multinational energy corporation in a $57 million “war risks” insurance recovery lawsuit against 14 insurers relating to Iran’s seizure of a vessel with its crude oil in the Gulf of Oman;
• Leading global aerospace company in responding to insurers’ denial of coverage under one policy year for losses in several underlying securities and derivative lawsuits in a multi-hundred-million-dollar D&O insurance claim under several policy years, arising out of the “door blowout” incident on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX and earlier 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019;
• Large commercial landlord in insurance coverage litigation concerning more than $350 million in coverage for BI losses and repair costs arising from a fire at a large commercial apartment complex in Los Angeles;
• North American energy infrastructure company in a high-stakes general liability dispute involving the defense and indemnity for 35,000 claims tied to a $1.8 billion settlement, as well as in a D&O coverage case;
• Leading financial institutions in a nine-figure insurance recovery matter against a commercial general liability (CGL) insurer for losses stemming from a regulatory consent order with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other state and federal agencies involving an owned location that previously housed dry cleaner operations;
• Beloved beverage company to assess the extent of coverage under its historical and current insurance programs for various long-tail claims alleging bodily injuries and property damages from its operations, as well as other insurance-related matters;
• Puerto Rico’s publicly owned power utility in recovering over $440 million in settlements of disputed insurance claims arising under first-layer property policies for losses arising out of Hurricane Maria and a series of earthquakes in 2020 that devastated the island’s electrical infrastructure;
• Leading North American energy and home services company in a large insurance recovery matter against a consortium of domestic and London market insurers for property damage and BI losses from a fire and explosion at its Texas power plant, recovering $375 million just before filing suit; and
• Leading industrial manufacturer of machine tools and lasers in efforts to recover millions of dollars for property and BI losses stemming from a plane crash into their Connecticut manufacturing facility.