Insurance

The Insurance practice group at Dickinson Wright serves the most significant legal needs of the insurance industry. We represent insurers in coverage and bad-faith disputes at the trial level and on appeal; provide coverage advice and opinions; counsel insurers on antitrust and other industry issues; defend insureds in high-value covered litigation; handle regulatory compliance and receiverships; and work with insurers on business formation and transactions.

Our clients encompass property and casualty insurers, including commercial general liability, homeowners, automobile, and no-fault and PIP coverages; worker’s compensation carriers; legal malpractice, medical malpractice, director and officer liability, and other professional liability insurers; specialty line insurers; health insurers; life insurers; title insurers; guaranty associations; and captive insurers.

Our Services

Litigation: Dickinson Wright attorneys have deep experience in representing insurers in high-stakes individual and class-action coverage and bad-faith matters, including defending against claims of “institutional” bad faith and responding to claims and verdicts for punitive damages. Understanding that litigation is costly and time consuming, and that it may damage an organization’s reputation, we proactively address issues and assist our clients with establishing effective risk-avoidance strategies to avoid the courtroom. But, when action is necessary, our clients benefit from our creative approach to resolving lawsuits, as well as our first-chair trial experience at all levels of appeals.

Coverage Advice and Opinions: Dickinson Wright attorneys offer experienced coverage advice and opinions in virtually all lines of insurance. We often succeed in resolving coverage disputes early in the process by conducting prompt but thorough initial review and analysis, and applying our significant experience and knowledge of the law to frame the issues appropriately.

Antitrust: Insurance providers often achieve greater cost efficiency and profitability through mergers and acquisitions or innovative collaborative arrangements. However, government antitrust enforcement efforts can pose an increasing challenge to these deals, necessitating an experienced legal partner with the ability to mitigate the entire spectrum of issues impacting health care entities. Clients frequently retain us for regulatory compliance and risk avoidance advice, including guidance on domestic and international mergers, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and collaborative activity among competitors.

Regulatory Compliance and Receiverships: Dickinson Wright attorneys counsel insurer clients as to entity formation, demutualization, securing initial or expanded certificates of authority, change of control proceedings, regulatory approvals for financing transactions, declaratory ruling requests, and market withdrawals. We also represent insurers in informal and formal receivership proceedings, counseling them in the context of rehabilitations and liquidations.

Business Formation and Transactions: Dickinson Wright attorneys work with insurers on a variety of corporate and transactional matters:

• Corporate and financial advice on business structures, including formation, mergers, acquisitions and dispositions, and public and private placements of stock and debt instruments.
• Insurance products, including drafting and securing approval for policy forms and preparing contracts to effectuated affiliate transactions.
• Negotiating and drafting agency/broker agreements, including fronting, reinsurance, and MGA program agreements.

Title Insurance: Dickinson Wright’s attorneys help title insurance companies and agents, as well as their customers and insureds – from homeowners to corporations and financial institutions – protect their real property interests and resolve title-related disputes. We work collaboratively with underwriters to manage risk and resolve title claims, and with title agents to make informed decisions based on legal principles applicable to their title examinations, underwriter relationships, and regulatory compliance. We regularly resolve disputes over such matters as

• Lien priority and validity
• Title ownership
• Equitable and conventional subrogation
• Easements
• Property boundaries
• Mechanic’s and judgment lien claims
• Policy coverage
• Wire and title fraud
• Agent liability and defalcations
• Recover losses from E&O carriers
• Bankruptcy estates