Considering the complex structure of commercial insurance programs—typically purchased in annual “towers” of insurance—risk managers and in-house counsel often do not pay sufficient attention to arbitration-related provisions, which the insurance industry is more frequently including in its policies. That’s like playing only one board in a game of three-dimensional chess.…
In my December 18, 2017, blog post, I wrote about “choosing the right path” to settle complex insurance claims and emphasized the benefits of private structured negotiation, a type of negotiation undertaken without the assistance of mediators. At that time, I identified mediation as “a good potential next step.” Since…
Even if an insurance company attempts to deny its coverage obligations, there are still processes that a policyholder can explore, short of litigation, that could resolve a coverage dispute. Appraisal is an alternative dispute resolution process designed to efficiently resolve measurement disputes between policyholders and their insurers. Appraisal can streamline…
As coverage counsel, we see the situation arise time and again: facing down substantial potential liability in a pending lawsuit, a policyholder engages in good-faith settlement discussions with the plaintiff. After animated negotiations between the parties, the plaintiff finally makes a reasonable offer, only for the policyholder’s insurance carrier to…
In most cases, a reasonable settlement produces a better result than litigation. A good settlement should provide more of what you need at a lower cost with less interruption of your core business. Abraham Lincoln is credited with the following advice: “Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you…
Businesses have been warned before about mandatory arbitration provisions proliferating in insurance policies, which require referral of coverage disputes to an arbitrator or arbitral panel and bar commencing civil lawsuits to resolve insurance coverage disputes. Other policies require the exhaustion of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures, such as mediation, before…