D&O and Professional Liability
The D&O and Professional Liability Practice Group at Troutman Sanders features one of the most comprehensive and experienced Directors and Officers (“D&O”) and professional liability insurance coverage and large case defense practices in the nation. Cumulatively, the Group has more than one million hours of experience in its areas of specialty, providing its clients with access to a unique wellspring of knowledge. For more than a quarter century, the Group has provided counsel to domestic and international insurers on thousands of claims involving D&O policies and related lines of coverage. As part of that representation, the Group has been involved in almost all of the major securities cases over the past several decades. On a national basis, the Group also represents professional liability insurers on coverage issues and related litigation arising out of the full spectrum of professional liability policies they issue. Additionally, the Group successfully has defended a wide array of professionals, including lawyers, accountants, directors and officers, architects and doctors, in a wide array of litigated matters across the country.
Directors & Officers Liability Insurance
The Group’s D&O practice dates back to the early 1970s, when partner Stuart Philip Ross represented certain London Underwriters in the first D&O rescission suit ever filed, Bird v. Penn Central Co. In the 1980s and 1990s, Group lawyers represented D&O insurers in scores of litigated cases throughout the country to enforce regulatory and insured v. insured exclusions against the FDIC, FSLIC, and the Resolution Trust Corporation, all of which were seeking to collect the proceeds of D&O policies issued to failed financial institutions. More recently, in the few years that have passed since Enron became a household word, Group attorneys have represented insurers in nearly all of the highest-profile accounting scandal cases. Characteristics of the Group’s D&O practice include:
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Group attorneys have represented primary and excess D&O insurers in thousands of claims, including those arising from securities class action litigation, shareholder derivative actions, mergers and acquisitions, employment discrimination, governmental investigations and litigation, ERISA litigation, health care fraud and False Claims Act litigation.
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The Group is well known to the leading shareholder litigation bar, both plaintiffs and defense, and its extensive experience in these cases inures to the benefit of its insurer clients and their insureds – both in defending the underlying litigation and at the settlement table. For example, the Group’s involvement in, as well as its knowledge of, securities law, securities cases and settlements nationwide enhances its clients’ ability to assess realistically the underlying liability and the potential exposure of its clients under their D&O policies.
The Group regularly assists D&O insurers in drafting policy forms and endorsements. Group attorneys also provide assistance to their clients in drafting manuscript policy provisions designed to meet the needs of a specific transaction or insured. Underwriters consult with Group lawyers to gain a better understanding of the risks they are being asked to assume and to develop strategies for controlling potential exposure.
In representing D&O insurers, the Group endeavors whenever possible to develop close and cooperative working relationships with insureds and their defense counsel. The Group’s experience in D&O litigation, coupled with these relationships, facilitates the resolution of disputes to the mutual benefit of both the insureds and their insurers, usually without resorting to litigation. In those cases in which litigation is unavoidable, the Group draws on its substantial experience litigating coverage disputes under D&O and other professional liability policies.
Professional Liability Insurance
Members of the Troutman Sanders D&O and Professional Liability Practice Group represent insurers in numerous matters raising coverage and related issues under malpractice policies. The Group assists insurance clients’ underwriters in drafting, revising and reviewing policy forms and endorsements, analyzing potential exposures and developing new approaches for dealing with emerging issues. Group attorneys also provide advice and assistance to defense counsel in particularly difficult cases and frequently assist defense counsel in handling settlement negotiations.
The Group’s experience in litigated matters – in which Group attorneys often are called upon to assist clients that already have suffered adverse results at trial – literally has spanned the country from Boston to Honolulu and from Alaska to Texas. In these matters, as in all of its representations, Group attorneys work closely with their insurer clients to settle matters swiftly and confidentially on favorable terms before litigation arises. If further litigation is warranted, the Group has the experience necessary to represent its clients’ best interests effectively and to achieve favorable results.
The Troutman Sanders D&O and Professional Liability Practice Group’s experience includes the following:
Professional Liability Defense
The Group historically has defended on a national basis significant exposure cases that have been lodged against law firms, accounting firms, directors and officers, architects and engineers, doctors and other professionals. The Group is proud of its remarkable rate of success in defending such cases. It has developed and implemented successful defense strategies, which focus on defenses well beyond standard of care liability issues. In addition, because of its widespread litigation presence, the Group has developed not only strong local knowledge in courts throughout the country, but it also has developed a solid network of local counsel.
The Group is experienced in defending securities class actions, malpractice claims and other litigation that implicates professionals as defendants. During the bank failure era, the Group successfully handled numerous cases brought against lawyers and accountants by the FDIC and FSLIC, including successfully trying several of the noteworthy cases during that era. The Group continues to represent lawyers and accountants in connection with individual and class action litigation on a national basis.
Additionally, the Group’s unparalleled experience representing D&O insurers positions it well to defend directors and officers in litigated matters where there is no conflict. The Group has been involved in most of the significant litigated cases against directors and officers over the past quarter century, and has a vast array of substantive knowledge in the areas of law, including securities law and banking regulation, that traditionally lead to claims against directors and officers. Moreover, the Group’s experience gives it unusual insight into successful settlement strategies and the personalities of high profile mediators and opposing counsel in this arena.