Media Coverage
Source: Insurance Law360
Media Coverage
Press Contacts: Erik Cummins, Matt Hyams, Olivia Thomas
01.28.11
Recently, Pillsbury has been named one of the top Law360’s Insurance Groups of 2010. Pillsbury’s Insurance Recovery and Advisory practice is one of the oldest insurance practices in the country, Peter Gillon, the practice co-head, told Insurance Law360. Gillon, who has been involved with high-profile disputes involving the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption, and the flooding in Nashville, Tenn, said also that the practice has unique expertise in several areas, including insurance insolvencies, environmental liability, directors and officers insurance, and nuclear liability coverage.
The article cites the precedent-setting California Supreme Court that Pillsbury won 100 years ago in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. "A hundred years later, Pillsbury is still involved in some of the headline-grabbing cases of today," Gillon said.
In another high-profile case, partner Rene Siemens recently achieved a victory for client Whittaker Corp. in a coverage dispute with American Nuclear Insurers. “The decision potentially affects nuclear insurance claims around the country,” Siemens said.
"We have one of the few nuclear regulatory practices in the country," said Robert Wallan, the Insurance Recovery & Advisory practice co-head. "If you want to build a nuclear power plant, and need lawyers, we're on the shortest of lists.
" In addition, Siemens achieved a major victory for the survivors of Holocaust victims, recovering more than $500 million from European insurers. Siemens said the case was unique because the claims were more than 50 years old.
“The statute of limitations in life insurance cases was normally four or five years, but had been extended by courts and the California law because evidence, including the existence of the policies, had been concealed from potential plaintiffs,” he said.
For example, the primary defendant in the cases, Assicurazioni Generali SpA, had denied the existences of any WWII records, while "they had an entire warehouse in Trieste, Italy, with the policies neatly arranged in binders,” Siemens said.
Another recent victory was on behalf of the Apartment Investment and Management Co., which was involved in a civil suit brought by the US Department of Justice alleging housing discrimination. “Amco won the invasion of privacy claim in an arbitration proceeding and settled its emotional distress coverage claim in court,” Gillon said.
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