Litigation and trials constitute greater than ninety (90 %) of the firm's practice, in all courts in the New York metropolitan counties as well as Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern District of New York.

1. Personal Injury and General Liability Defense

Casualty/liability litigation makes up approximately seventy (70%) percent of the firm's defense practice. The scope of the firm's personal injury and liability defense practice includes products liability, personal and commercial line automobile casualty claims, commercial and residential premises liability, lead and asbestos claims as well as commercial crime and intentional act coverage, including libel and slander. In addition to being retained counsel to numerous insurance companies and self-insured entities, we are regularly engaged by other law firms and third-party administrators to undertake, on their behalf, the trial of high exposure liability cases.

The firm represents both the insureds of major property insurers as well as direct representation of the insurer in the course of its investigation and litigation of first party claims. The firm regularly litigates issues involving arson, fraud, claims arising under FEMA, employee dishonesty and business interruption as well as disputes involving specialty and industry niche lines of property insurance, including fidelity and warehousemen's and legal liability coverage. The firm has extensive experience in conducting examinations under oath on behalf of our insurer clients and advising them with respect to coverage issues in regard to the investigation

• Golub v. Metropolitan Property & Casualty Ins. Company (1997)
• Greenidge v. Allstate
• Derek Wallis, et. al. v. Lexington Insurance Company (1997)
• Bahar v. Allstate
• Hiraldo v. Allstate
• Ramirez v. Allstate
• Greene v. Allstate

Successfully addressing the position of Lexington that it was not required to pay more than one million dollars in attorneys' fees to a Lloyd's syndicate on a pro-rata basis under an excess insurance program in the absence of the excess insurers' consent, and modifying the fiduciary relationship between primary and excess insurers in New York.

3. Medical Malpractice and Professional Liability

The firm is actively involved in the defense of physicians, hospitals and other health care providers in medical malpractice actions in wide ranging fields of medicine, from neurosurgical cases, obstetrical cases to ophthalmological cases and dental malpractice cases.

The firm has also been actively involved in representing accountants, architects and engineers as well as attorneys (both individually and as partnerships and professional corporations) in professional liability litigation instituted by former clients and third parties.

4. Excess Insurance Programs and Related Litigation

Within each of the areas of practice, the firm has been called upon by our insurer clients to represent them in connection with disputes involving programs and/or policies of excess insurance. In connection with these assignments, we monitor high risk exposure cases on the clients' behalf and advise the client as to the primary carriers' obligations and its rights in the course of the underlying litigation, including fiduciary obligations, underlying insurer insolvency and defense assumption. Resulting litigation is routinely prosecuted or defended by the firm.

Special Fraud Litigation is a speciality within the firm. The fraud unit works with numerous insurance companies in the detection, investigation and prosecution of insurance fraud. The firm has handled numerous cases involving identity theft, staged accidents, no-fault scams, as well as individualized schemes to defraud insurance companies. We are actively involved in the investigation of this activity, conducting examinations under oath and litigation defending an insurance company's denial of coverage. Our clients have included the following:

• State Farm Insurance Companies
• Allstate Insurance Companies
• Eveready Insurance Company
• Metropolitan Property Casualty Insurance Company
• Lumber Insurance Companies
• Lexington Insurance Company

6. Appellate Practice

The firm also has an active in-house Appellate Practice headed by Roy Karlin. The Appellate Practice continues to successfully argue issues, novel and routine, as well as those of first impression on behalf of clients before both State and Federal Appellate Courts.

The firm's clients range from major insurance companies to self insured organizations and corporations. The firm has represented the following carriers:

• Aetna/Travelers Casualty and Surety Company
• Allstate Insurance Company
• A.I.G. Insurance Companies (Excess Claims Division)
• Eveready Insurance Companies
• Lexington Insurance Company (now A.I.G. Property)
• Lumbers Insurance Companies
• Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company
• Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Company
• National Life Insurance Company and Related Groups
• Nationwide Mutual Insurance Companies
• Physician's Reciprocal Insurance Company
• State Farm Insurance Companies
• Ulico Casualty Company
• Union Labor Life Insurance Company
• United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company

In addition, the firm also provides comprehensive representation to a number of self-insured clients, including the defense and trial of third party liability claims: Queens Surface Transit Company, Triboro Coach Company, Green Bus Company as well as several commercial automobile and truck rental companies including Hertz, Budget Rental, Ford Motor Credit and Chrysler Credit Corporation (through Hertz Claim Management) as well as direct representation of the Avis Corporation.

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