Insurance Coverage/Risk Management
Kotz Sangster Wysocki P.C.’s experience in counseling and defending its insurer and business clients in connection with insurance/risk management extends to virtually all areas of insurance law impacting each of the Firm’s Practice Areas and its clients.
The firm’s insurance and risk management experience encompasses Property, Casualty, Environmental, Professional Errors & Omissions, Directors & Officers, Excess and Reinsurance, Life Health and Accident coverage, No-Fault Auto, Insurer Insolvency and State Guaranty Fund matters, as well as the formation and management of Captives and use of Self-Insured Retentions (“SIR’s”). The firm’s attorneys work closely with clients’ risk managers concerning the use of Captives, SIR’s and in setting reserves.
Protecting our clients’ interests neither begins nor ends in the courtroom. The Firm’s first priority is to prevent problems from ever occurring and to avoid unnecessary litigation:
Risk Management
Our clients regularly consult us regarding the drafting of “legally sensitive” materials, such as policy forms, agreements among joint ventures, SIR agreements, bylaws and articles of association, inspection reporting forms, site access agreements, environmental indemnity agreements, claims manuals, and promotional brochures among others. By painstakingly drafting and carefully reviewing these documents, we help our clients avoid potential legal problems and are better prepared to provide representation should an actual conflict develop.
Practice Group Interface
Kotz Sangster attorneys especially focus on insurance issues in their counseling and representation of the Firm’s Corporate, Banking and Finance, Construction, Insurance, Reinsurance, Trade Association, and Municipal clients in Michigan and nationwide, in business transactions and litigation:
- evaluating coverage and negotiating insurance and risk management mechanisms in complex mergers and acquisitions;
- counseling clients in the evaluation of risk management and due diligence in business and real estate transactions and regarding workplace and employment practices, and
- in providing first and third party defense under Property and Casualty Policies; Products/Completed Operations, Builders Risk and Construction Liability Coverage; Professional Liability, Errors & Omissions, Directors & Officers; and Employment Practices Liability Policies.
Insurance and Reinsurance Coverage Evaluation and Defense
Kotz Sangster attorneys are skilled practitioners in the areas of insurance and reinsurance coverage and defense and serve as defense and coverage counsel for primary and excess insurers, reinsurers and surplus lines clients and their insureds.
Firm attorneys routinely counsel clients across the country in complex property losses, including fires, explosions, water intrusions and business interruption and inventory losses involving commercial properties, boiler and machinery losses, and in complex multi-state product liability and environmental contamination and groundwater claims and concerning no-fault auto/commercial vehicle/hazardous materials transportation, warehouseman legal liability, employment practices liability, general liability, construction, builders risk, products/completed operations, among others.
Firm attorneys have represented insurers, reinsurers and offshore captives in disputes with cede companies under facultative and treaty reinsurance contracts in complex product liability, environmental, mass tort and asbestos liability disputes. They have undertaken claim program audits and participated in policy runoff and buyback programs.
The firm’s attorneys assist clients in carefully tailoring and resolving policy wording issues, in dispute resolution including arbitration and litigation, as well as facilitation of reinsurer clients’ corporate business plans through investigation, information management, consultation and trend analysis relating to insurance, excess insurance, captive, offshore and reinsurance concerns.
Professional Errors and Omissions
Firm attorneys counsel our clients' risk managers concerning errors and omissions coverage and claims avoidance mechanisms over a wide range of professionals including accountants, architects, insurance agents and brokers, physicians, medical technicians, environmental professionals, attorneys and third-party health plan administrators. The firm has also been particularly effective in defending tort claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, and claims for treble damages under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”).
Captive Insurance
Insurance attorneys at Kotz Sangster are experienced in forming Captive Insurance Companies for clients desiring to maximize the potential of their insurance premium dollars, and to obtain favorable tax treatment to achieve their goals. Our unique breadth of insurance experience enables us to write policies and establish claims handling protocols for domestic and offshore captives.
Directors and Officers Liability
Directors and Officers are frequently scrutinized and targeted by investors and others claiming entitlement to compensation for alleged wrongdoing or violation of state and federal securities laws. Kotz Sangster’s insurance attorneys have extensive experience counseling its corporate and business clients in connection with formation and operational matters and transactions and other Directors And Officers Liability and Professional Errors and Omissions issues.
Banking and Finance Industry Risks and Insurance
Kotz Sangster Wysocki P.C. represents and counsels an array of Banking and Financial Institution clients in connection with their insurance and risk management issues. The Firm’s unique combination of Commercial Lending, Finance Industry, Insurance Underwriting, Claims, Coverage and Litigation experience enables the firm to innovatively serve our Commercial Lending and Finance clients in the management of their risks, and to defend them in time of loss under Directors and Officers and Professional Errors and Omissions liability policies, and in connection with their rights and obligations as Mortgagees and Loss-Payees under property insurance policies and as insureds under Commercial General Liability policies and Fidelity Bonds, among others. Firm attorneys also counsel and defend the Firm’s Financial Services clients in connection with alleged Environmental Lender Liability issues.
Construction Risks and Insurance
Kotz Sangster Wysocki P.C.’s experience in connection with construction claims and litigation on behalf of owners, developers, construction managers, general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers, enables the firm to effectively counsel its construction industry clients to manage their risk under Builders Risk, Products/Completed Operations, General Liability and Professional Errors and Omissions liability policies, among others.
Resolution of crucial issues involving coverage under construction liability policies and evaluation of risks and liability associated with construction projects, including operation of construction sites and facilities, supply chain and delivery, and health and safety issues requires an in-depth knowledge of not only the industry, but also of state and federal laws, regulations and codes, and insurance law in the context of property and liability claims involving personal injury, business loss, and property damage litigation and proceedings under federal, state and local laws. Kotz Sangster attorneys have this knowledge and experience.
We regularly counsel clients on insurance coverage and compliance matters, including code issues, hazardous materials management and transportation issues, OSHA/MIOSHA safety and compliance requirements, and OCIP's.
Environmental, Sustainability/Alternative Energy/Emerging Risks
Environmental liability exposures can be catastrophic, of unlimited amount and extend for undefined or unexpected time periods. Insurance coverage for property damage and liability exposures arising from environmental conditions has evolved, and is again evolving in this time of regulatory-driven change focusing upon sustainability, alternative energy and climate change.
Kotz Sangster attorneys have extensive experience representing insurers and their insureds in connection with environmental liabilities, having served as national Coordinating Counsel for the largest program of Environmental Impairment Liability Insurance ever written in North America, and having defended numerous clients in environmental compliance and permitting matters, and in litigation involving generator, transporter and treatment, storage and disposal facility owners and operators under federal and state law, including toxic tort and leaking underground storage tank remediation of sites in Michigan and other states.
In addition to counseling its clients on environmental compliance and permitting matters, including code issues, hazardous materials management and transportation issues, Motor Carrier Safety Act, OSHA/MIOSHA safety and compliance requirements, and regulation of environmental risks under federal and state laws, the Firm counsels its clients on environmental insurance coverage issues and emerging environmental liability issues, including those inherent with the implementation of LEED building standards, alternative energy risks such as biofuels and wind farm liability exposures for agricultural insurance clients, and environmental/occupational health exposures from nano-materials, among others.
The extensive experience of Kotz Sangster attorneys in environmental compliance, litigation and administrative regulatory proceedings with USEPA and MDEQ and arbitration proceedings in state and federal courts uniquely enables Kotz Sangster to advocate for and defend its clients.
Employment Practices Liability Defense
Kotz Sangster has decades of experience defending employers in Employment and Labor Law disputes and in proactively assisting firm employer clients in human resources matters.
Firm attorneys have successfully handled a multitude of employment –related matters for Firm clients in Federal and State Courts and administrative tribunals including defense of employment discrimination and harassment, wrongful discharge, breach of employment contract charges and suits, as well as controversies involving ERISA, retirement, employee benefits and compensation, employment agreements, non-compete and confidentiality agreements, wage and salary administration, ADA and FMLA compliance, and workplace violence, employee substance testing, affirmative action and related matters on behalf of Firm clients.
This experience uniquely positions the Firm to furnish its aggressive but practical defense skills in litigation and administrative proceedings on behalf of Insureds under Employment Practices Liability Policies.
Coordinating Counsel
Firm members are experienced in the role of coordinating counsel, and have been retained to act as national coordinating counsel for the largest pool of environmental impairment liability coverage ever issued in North America, and for a number of years directed, supervised and trained lead and local counsel and coordinated their activities in complex multi-state environmental coverage litigation in both state and federal courts. This activity enabled uniform and consistent handling and analysis of these complex claims and significant cost control through monitoring, auditing and pre-authorizing all lead and local counsel activities. This unique experience which Kotz Sangster Wysocki P.C. can provide to its clients has enabled it to streamline litigation, control costs, and resolve disputed matters fairly and expeditiously.
