Robins, Kaplan, Miller, & Ciresi, L.L.P.

Our comprehensive Insurance and Catastrophic Loss practice includes representation for the litigation and management of cases related to:

• All risks--including flood and earthquake
• Fire and extended peril coverages
• DIC
• Boiler and machinery
• Fidelity/surety
• CGL
• Directors and officers
• Employment practices liability
• Environmental
• Errors and omissions
• Marine and inland marine
• Sabotage and terrorism
• Intellectual property

We represent leading U.S. and international commercial property, liability, and fidelity/surety insurance companies:

• Allianz Global Risks U.S. Insurance Company
• Chubb Insurance Group
• Commonwealth Insurance Company
• FM Global
• Liberty Mutual Insurance Company
• One Beacon Insurance Company
• Sentry Insurance a Mutual Company
• Starr Technical Risks Agency, Inc.
• Swiss Re
• The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company
• Underwriters at Lloyd’s
• Zurich Global Energy

Admiralty and Maritime

• American Steamship Company v. Hallett Dock Company, et al.: A federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in Duluth, Minn., awarded our client American Steamship Company 100% of the $4,682,322.55 claimed in repair damages and lost business income after a 11-day trial ended February 21, 2013. The jury decided that Hallett Dock Company was 100 percent responsible for causing the 1,000-foot-long vessel, the Walter J. McCarthy Jr., to partially sink and flood at Hallett’s dock in the Duluth-Superior Harbor.
• TBS North America Liner, Ltd. v. San Juan Navigation Corp.: Represented foreign company in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota and obtained a marine attachment order for 100% of the funds sought against another foreign company. Then, after a successful arbitration proceeding, obtained an order for the release of all previously attached funds plus certain costs and interest for client.

 

Asbestos/Sick Building

• Obtained judgment that the presence of lead paint does not constitute physical damage to a building.
• Obtained dismissal of $60 million asbestos removal claim for carrier on statute of limitations defense; achieved dismissal of multi-million dollar claim for asbestos contamination due to fire; obtained dismissal of $40 million asbestos removal claim regarding manifestation loss theory.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a property insurer in a $45 million asbestos claim, which was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• DuPage County Courthouse: Obtained defense verdict for architect on “sick” building claim.

 

Bad Faith

• Mudlin v. Hills Materials Co. 742 N.W.2d 49 (S.D. 2007): The South Dakota Supreme Court upheld an insurer’s right to challenge fairly debatable insurance claims without being liable for the tort of ‘bad faith'.

 

Complex Coverage Issues

• Obtained multi-million dollar settlements in case against insurance broker for misrepresentation of risk during placement and in case against architect and engineer for construction defects.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a property insurer in a bad faith action where the court found the insurer’s conduct reasonable as a matter of law. The ruling was affirmed by the California Court of Appeals.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a property insurer sued in breach of contract and bad faith action on the grounds of the suit limitation clause.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a property insurer sued in breach of contract on the grounds of the “earth movement” exclusion.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a property insurer sued in breach of contract and bad faith action on the grounds that the claimant lacked standing to sue the insurer.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of two property insurers sued in a negligence action for allegedly approving and designing a fire sprinkler system that accidentally discharged on the grounds that the insurers owed no duty of care to the owner or any third-party.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of property insurer sued for breach of contract and bad faith in a multi-million dollar mold remediation claim on the grounds that the insured's loss manifested before and was a loss-in-progress at the time the insurer's policy coverage began.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a liability insurer sued in breach of contract and bad faith action on the grounds that the insurer did not have a duty to defend or indemnify the insured based on various provisions of the policy.
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a product manufacturer in more than five different cases, all on the grounds that the undisputed facts demonstrated the manufacturer’s product was not defective.

 

Defense

• CFS Logistics, Inc. v. American Motorists Insurance Company, et al. No. C.A. 12-217, R.I. Superior Court, Kent County (August 15, 2012): Represented American Motorists in a coverage dispute under an inland marine policy. The plaintiff alleged a covered loss during transit to a multi-million dollar piece of military equipment. Obtained an order from the bench dismissing plaintiff’s allegations under Rule 12(b)(6) and separate and final judgment dismissing American Motorists from the litigation.
• One Meridian Plaza Fire: Defense and multi-million dollar subrogation recovery for carrier and the tenant regarding Philadelphia high-rise, office building fire.
• Felman Production, Inc. v. Industrial Risk Insurers, No. 3:09-0481, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112156 (S.D.W.V. Sept. 29, 2011): The Court granted partial summary judgment in favor of client on insured’s business interruption claim.
• Pentair, Inc. v. American Guarantee & Liability Insurance Co. 400 F.3d 613 (8th Cir. 2005): Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment in favor of American Guarantee on a contingent business interruption claim.
• Seminis, Inc. v. Factory Mutual Insurance Co., 802 F. Supp. 2d 1097 (C.D. Cal. 2008): The Court granted partial summary judgment in favor of our client, holding that the “growing crops” exclusion precluded coverage for research plants grown in open fields.

 

Flood/ Earthquake/ Blizzard

• Caraustar Industries, Inc. v. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. No. 1:10-cv-0006-SCJ (N.D. Ga. June 13, 2011): The Court granted summary judgment in favor of our client, Factory Mutual Insurance Company. Our client insured the plaintiff's properties under an all-risks insurance policy that contained a flood exclusion. In September 2009, the plaintiff's properties were damaged by a flood. On summary judgment, the Court held that the plain language of the policy clearly provided no coverage for the plaintiff's $22 million flood loss.
• Factory Mutual Insurance Co.: Achieved a $9 million recovery for Factory Mutual Insurance Company and an electric utility company in January 2006. This case involves the collapse of a dam and flooding of a power plant in Michigan.
• Cortina Realty Trust v. Pacific Insurance Co. LTD, 27 Mass. L. Rep. 461 (2010): Obtained summary judgment for insurance client in a lawsuit over whether an insurance policy’s flood exclusion precluded coverage for flooding exacerbated by the decision of a neighboring town to open a flood valve.
• Georgia Blizzard: Defense of $200 million business interruption dispute in appraisal proceeding.
• Northridge California Earthquake: Represented carriers in numerous contexts, including code upgrade coverage interpretation, application of deductibles, coordination of multi-layered coverages, and measurement issues.
• North Dakota State University v. Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Ins. Co. 694 N.W.2d 225 (N.D. 2005): North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment in favor of HSB on flood coverage claim.
• Todd Shipyards v. Westport Insurance Corp. 111 Fed. Appx. 534 (9th Cir. 2004): Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment in Nisqually earthquake case.

 

Food Contamination

• Lund Food Holdings E. coli Contamination: Achieved confidential recovery for Lund Food Holdings ("Lunds/Byerly's") in the E. coli O157:H7 contamination litigation after Lunds/Byerly's responded to the 2007 recall of ground beef and hundreds of reports of contamination and illness. Also defended Lunds/Byerly's in numerous claims arising out of the ground beef contamination incident.
• Schwan’s Salmonella Outbreak: Multi-million dollar recovery for Schwan's Sales Enterprises after the 1994 nationwide Salmonella Enteritidis contamination and recall of Schwan's ice cream involving an estimated 224,000 ill consumers. Also coordinated the defense of Schwan's in the claims and lawsuits arising out of the ice cream contamination incident. At that time, this food contamination event was considered by The New England Journal of Medicine to be the largest common-source salmonellosis outbreak ever recognized in the United States.
• SuperValu E. coli Contamination: Multi-million dollar recovery for SuperValu in the E. coli O157:H7 contamination litigation after SuperValu responded to the 2000 recall of ground beef and thousands of reports of contamination and illness. Also defended SuperValu in numerous illness claims arising out of the ground beef contamination incident.

 

Hurricane Katrina Claims

• LKBOC, LLC v. Continental Casualty Co., No. 06-1617 (E.D.La. Feb. 13, 2007): Obtained partial summary judgment for insurance client in a lawsuit over the availability of lost rents insurance to downtown office towers in New Orleans for the period after the lifting of Hurricane Katrina evacuation orders and the restoration of utility services.
  
  

Negligent Inspection

• FM/Rantec: Negligent inspection resulted in summary judgment. Affirmed by 9th Circuit in November 2004.
• Factory Mutual Insurance Co. v. Bobst Group USA, Inc., 392 F.3d 922 (7th Cir. 2004): Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment in favor of FM on negligent inspection claim.
• Gifford v. Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Ins. Co. 811 N.E.2d 853 (Ind. Ct. App. 2004): Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed judgment for HSB on negligent inspection claim.
• Lockheed Martin v. RFI, 118 Fed. Appx. 122 (9th Cir. 2004): Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment in favor of Factory Mutual Research Corporation on third-party claim based on alleged negligent approval.
• Board of Regents: Established legal precedent in Minnesota that “sudden” in pollution exclusion has temporal meaning.
• Established seminal case law on reinsurance of declaratory judgment costs.

 

Power Outage

• Northeast Power Outage: Retained to conduct investigation and to propose study of causes and damages from U.S./Canadian power blackout.

 

September 11 Claims

• World Trade Center Towers: Represented insurers for the Towers and WTC 7 as well as other buildings and businesses affected by the September 11 attack in litigation and appraisal proceedings.
• Clark County v. Factory Mutual Ins. Co., No. CV-s-02-1258-KJD 2005 WL 6720917 (D. Nev., Mar. 28, 2005): Court granted summary judgment in favor of FM in 9/11 airport case.
• Cook County v. Factory Mutual Ins. Co., No. 02 C 7023, 2004 WL 549447 (N.D. Ill., Mar. 18, 2004): Court granted summary judgment in favor of FM in 9/11 airport case.

 

Subrogation Recovery

• Hollywood Studio Fire: Obtained $5,800,000 settlement for subrogated insurer after winning liability phase of an inverse condemnation trial.
• Olympic Pipeline: Represented several foreign and domestic insurance companies in litigation arising from the Olympic pipeline rupture and explosion in Bellingham, Washington. As a result of the unavailability of the pipeline, Atlantic Richfield sustained business interruption and extra expense losses. The litigation involved the resolution of coverage issues with Atlantic Richfield and a subrogation action against the owner and operator of the pipeline. The subrogation case settled for a confidential amount a month before trial was scheduled to begin in federal court in Seattle.
• Dole Subrogation: Recovered over $6.5 million on behalf of Dole Foods, Inc. and Underwriters at Lloyd’s arising out of a fire at Dole’s plant in Yuma, Arizona.
• LaGrange, Georgia Fire: Recovery of over $99 million on behalf of property insurer and policy holder for fire.
• IRI/Malette: Obtained settlement in international arbitration of subrogation claim brought after fire against German manufacturer.
• Kentucky Utility Company Turbine Fire: Recovery following disastrous failure of turbine generator.
• Americold Fire: Multi-million dollar recovery from fire in 360-acre underground food warehouse for subrogated insurers and food companies.
• Taiwan Fire: Multi-million dollar subrogation recovery for computer manufacturing plant damages.
• Illinois Bell Telephone Company Fire: Multi-million dollar recovery for Illinois Bell and subrogated carrier in telecommunications fire.
• Northwestern (now Wells Fargo) Bank Fire: Multi-million dollar recovery for bank and subrogated carrier in Minneapolis fire.
• Rouge Powerhouse Dearborn Explosion: Obtained multi-million dollar subrogation award in arbitration from catastrophic powerhouse explosion.
• New York Explosion: Obtained multi-million dollar subrogation recovery for explosion of anechoic chamber during testing.
• Chicago Flood: Multi-million dollar subrogation recovery for department stores and their insurers.
• Pajaro River Flooding and Yuba River Flooding: Obtained verdicts on behalf of subrogated insurers and against public entities for multimillion-dollar flood losses in Northern California.

 

Unique Problems

• Alliance RICO Litigation: Recovered over $12 million judgment in favor of insurer against individual defendants under the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act arising out of an insurance fraud and conspiracy.
• Willowridge Litigation: Recovered over $7 million for excess insurer against primary carriers in a contribution and indemnity action for repayment of defense fees and indemnification paid to insureds arising out of the Alliance insurance fraud and conspiracy.
• Workers’ Compensation Reinsurance Association: $340 million judgment in favor of insurance companies in a constitutional challenge to state regulation.
• Y2K: Obtained summary judgment and appellate court affirmance that property insurance policies do not cover the cost of making the insured’s systems Y2K compliant.
• Chicago Board of Trade: Dismissal of bond claim in case involving Chicago broker and German brokerage house in fidelity claim.