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Overview | Clients | Litigation | Market Conduct Litigation | Appeals | Counseling | Regulatory
V&E;'s insurance practice encompasses the full spectrum of insurance issues and disputes. Partners in each of the firm's Houston, Dallas, Austin, New York and Washington offices devote a substantial part of their time to insurance matters. In the Houston office, David H. Brown and Marie R. Yeates head, respectively, the firm's insurance coverage and appellate practices and each routinely handles insurance litigation matters. John C. Wander of the firm's Dallas office defends complex and class action litigation against insurance industry clients.
Overview
The firm has experience in virtually every line of insurance coverage, including aviation, boiler and machinery, business interruption, crime and fidelity, directors and officers, excess, health, general liability, life, marine, personal lines, professional liability, political risk, property and reinsurance.
We routinely address all facets of general and professional liability policies, including duty to defend analysis, contractual coverage, policy conditions, the "business risk" and "pollution" exclusions and the "personal injury" and "advertising injury" coverages. We have in-depth experience in coverage analysis and litigation arising under first party property coverages, including business interruption coverage, and in mass plaintiff and toxic tort cases involving exposures to substances such as arsenic, asbestos, dry cleaning fluid, pesticides, petroleum hydrocarbons, radiation and silica. We are experienced in environmental coverage litigation involving liability for waste disposal under federal statutory and common law theories. We have handled many insurance cases, large and small, in state and federal courts throughout Texas.
Clients
The firm's insurance clients reflect the diversity of its client base and the breadth of its practice. We represent a variety of corporations and business policyholders in claims under first party and liability policies. Our insurance industry clients include large domestic life and casualty insurers, as well as European and international underwriters.
Litigation
The firm's insurance trial practice includes the handling of large, complex liability and first party coverage suits, routine coverage matters, declaratory judgment litigation on the duty to defend, "bad faith" litigation, appeals and arbitration proceedings.
On behalf of Underwriters at Lloyd's, ILU Companies and Scandinavian underwriters, we handled the case of Exxon Corporation v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's London, in which we defended against claims exceeding $1 billion made by Exxon for clean up costs, liability payments, and alleged "bad faith" arising out of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The firm's litigation team was led by Harry M. Reasoner.
We recently achieved a substantial recovery for an energy client in a contested claim arising from a business interruption loss at a foreign cogeneration facility. We are currently representing Texas Medical Center institutions suffering tropical storm Allison losses, addressing coverage for a South American oil pipeline that sustained major oil spill, representing the interests of London underwriters in Louisiana litigation involving alleged reservoir damage, and defending large domestic casualty insurers in class action premium litigation.
Market Conduct Litigation
The firm is a leader in defending class action litigation alleging supposed "market conduct" abuses in the sale of life insurance. We have acted as lead trial counsel and coordinating litigation counsel in putative nationwide class action cases filed throughout the United States involving so-called "vanishing premium," replacement, and retirement claims or alleging racial discrimination in the sale of insurance. We also have represented insurance companies in a variety of suits brought by state regulatory agencies. Walter B. Stuart of our New York office leads our life insurance litigation practice.
Appeals
Our lawyers have played an important role in shaping Texas insurance law in the federal and state appellate courts. Thomas S. Leatherbury, for example, represented the insurer in Transportation Insurance Company v. Moriel, 879 S.W.2d 10 (Tex. 1994), the landmark opinion that in reversing a "bad faith" judgment fundamentally redefined the requirements for punitive damages under Texas law.
Other reported opinions in appellate matters handled by Vinson & Elkins include Group Hospital Services, Inc., and Group Life & Health Insurance Company v. Linda Daniel, 704 S.W.2d 2d 870 (Tex.Civ.App. - Corpus Christi 1985, no writ) reversing a $10 million "bad faith" judgment against our client; Enserch Corp. v. Shand Morahan & Co., Inc., 592 F.2d 1485 (5th Cir. 1992) reversing a $50 million judgment against our client under an engineers errors and omissions policy; Gulf Chemical and Metallurgical Corp. v. Associated Metals & Minerals Corp., 1 F.3d 365 (5th Cir. 1993) addressing toxic tort defense expense allocation issues under general liability policies; Travelers Indemnity Co. of Rhode Island v. Holloway, 17 F. 3d 113 (5th Cir. 1994) affirming a judgment for our client under general liability coverage; Taylor v. Travelers Insurance Co., 40 F.3d 79 (5th Cir. 1994) concerning the "business risk" exclusions in a general liability policy; Chandler v. Lloyd's of London, 889 S.W.2d 513 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1994, writ denied) reversing a $17 million bad faith judgment against our client in a case involving a maritime hull policy; and, State Farm State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. v. Brown, 984 S.W.2d 695 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1998, writ denied) a class action suit affirming in favor of our client the validity of the PIP offset clause in an auto policy; Mid-Century Insurance Company v. Boytz, 80 S.W. 3d 546 (Tex. 2002), addressing the duration of the duty of good faith.
Counseling
The firm has an active insurance counseling practice and routinely advises clients on coverage issues such as the duty to defend, reservations of rights, the duties owed by insurer and insured to one another and loss allocation issues. We monitor the defense of matters that are defended by other law firms for our business clients and for excess carriers, and advise on the adjustment and handling of first party claims. In conjunction with our insurance practice, we regularly advise our business and insurance clients on a variety of contractual loss allocation issues, including indemnity and hold harmless agreements, contractual limitations of liability and agreements to procure insurance. Additionally, we counsel clients on the placement and terms of policies, and assist in the training of claims and risk management personnel.
Regulatory
We have a significant regulatory practice centered in our Austin office and represent domestic insurers in a range of matters before the Texas Department of Insurance. This representation involves rulemaking proceedings, ratemaking applications and hearings, administrative investigations and audits, appeals of administrative action and advice concerning statistical reporting, rate filing and regulatory compliance. We also perform regulatory work for non-insurance clients on such issues as self-insurance and whether proposed services are subject to regulation. We also monitor, draft and consult concerning proposed and pending insurance and tort reform legislation.
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