New Appleman on Insurance: Current Critical Issues in Insurance Law

Doug Richmond is Managing Director of the Professional Services Group of Aon Risk Solutions. Before joining Aon, Doug was a partner with Armstrong Teasdale LLP in Kansas City, Missouri (1989–2004), where he had a national trial and appellate practice. In his time at Armstrong Teasdale, he tried numerous major cases as "first chair" and was often engaged to handle appeals of cases tried by other lawyers. In 1998, he was named the nation's top defense lawyer in an insurance industry poll as reported in the publications Inside Litigation and Of Counsel. He is a member of the American Bar Foundation, American Law Institute (ALI), American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC), and Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (FDCC). He serves as an Adviser to the ALI in the preparation of the Restatement of the Law of Liability Insurance. In 2003, the Euromoney Legal Media Group named him as one of the nation's top insurance and reinsurance lawyers. Doug is the co-author of an insurance law treatise, Understanding Insurance Law (5th ed. 2012) and an insurance law casebook, Cases and Materials on Insurance Law (7th ed. 2013). He is one of three named editors of the New Appleman Insurance Law Practice Guide. He has published more than 50 articles in university law reviews, and many more articles in other scholarly and professional journals. Doug teaches Insurance Law and a seminar on Liability Insurance Law at the University of Florida College of Law. He previously taught Trial Advocacy and Insurance Law at the University of Kansas School of Law, and Insurance Law and a seminar on Damages at the University of Missouri School of Law. He received his J.D. from the University of Kansas. Opinions expressed here are solely the author's and do not reflect the views of Aon or its clients.

David Rossmiller is a partner in the Insurance Coverage and Recovery section of the Business and Commercial Litigation Department of Dunn Carney Allen Higgins & Tongue. His practice focuses on insurance coverage and recovery counseling and litigation including environmental property damage, errors and omissions and professional liability coverage, directors and officers liability, sex abuse coverage, construction defect, business interruption insurance general commercial liability, first-party commercial property disputes, bad faith litigation, homeowners and auto, maaged care, employer liability and others.

William T. Barker is a Senior Counsel of the Insurance Litigation & Coverage Practice Group of Dentons US LLP, practicing in its Chicago office, with a nationwide practice, primarily representing insurers, in the area of complex commercial insurance litigation, including coverage, claim practices, sales practices, risk classification and selection, agent relationships, and regulatory matters. He is the co-author, (with Ronald D. Kent) of New Appleman Insurance Bad Faith Litigation, Second Edition and (with Prof. Charles Silver) of Professional Responsibilities of Insurance Defense Counsel. He is an Adviser to the American Law Institute project on Principles of the Law of Liability Insurance. He is a Vice Chair of the American Bar Association ("ABA") Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee and a co-chair of the Subcommittee on Bad Faith Litigation of the ABA Litigation Section Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee.

Laura A. Foggan is a partner in the insurance practice and co-chair of the appellate practice of Wiley Rein and Fielding LLP in Washington, DC. She represents insurers in a wide range of coverage and regulatory matters, handles critical appeals and is counsel to the Complex Insurance Claims Litigation Association. She has been lead counsel in trial and appellate matters involving underlying terrorism, environmental, products liability, pharmaceutical, technology and mass tort claims. Recognized in Euromoney's 2006 Guide to the World's Leading Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers, she also has been named one of the "100 Leading Women" in insurance by Business Insurance magazine and one of "America's Leading Lawyers for Business" for four consecutive years by Chambers USA.

Michael M.Marick is a founding partner of the firm of Meckler Bulger & Tilson in Chicago. His nationwide practice focuses on insurance coverage counseling and litigation involving all types of commercial and professional liability policies. He has authored many articles and book chapters on insurance law topics, and is frequently invited to speak to legal professional and insurance industry audiences.

Marc S. Maister is a member of the insurance and litigation practice groups of Irell & Manell LLP, where he specializes in handling high-profile insurance matters and general civil litigation. He also assists clients, brokers and risk managers with the structuring of insurance programs and works with transactional attorneys on various sophisticated insurance matters.

Ronald D. Kent heads the Litigation Department in SNR Denton's Los Angeles office. He is also Co-Chair of the Firm's National Insurance Litigation and Coverage Practice and is a member of the firm-wide Policy & Planning (Management) Committee. Since 2005, he has been named each year as a leading trial lawyer nationally and in California, based on peer and client evaluations, by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers, the highly respected independent attorney rating organization. Mr. Kent has extensive experience representing major insurance companies on a wide variety of matters, including fraud and bad faith actions, class action and multiple plaintiff litigation, defense of toxic tort and other environmental claims, insurance coverage actions and general business disputes. Mr. Kent has tried matters in state and federal courts throughout California, and in other states, and has successfully handled in excess of 70 arbitrations to final resolution. In addition, he has briefed and argued numerous appellate matters in the California Supreme Court, nearly all California district courts of appeal and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Jeffrey E. Thomas is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Dean Thomas graduated from Loyola Marymount University in 1983, and received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall), in 1986. He is a member of the California State Bar, the American Bar Association, the Association of American Law Schools, and the Asia Pacific Risk and Insurance Association. Dean Thomas is President of the Asia Pacific Risk and Insurance Association, a Past Chair of the Insurance Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools, and has served in various leadership positions in the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section of the ABA. Dean Thomas is author of numerous articles on Insurance Law published in the United States and internationally. His work has been presented at academic and professional meetings throughout the U.S. and in Australia, China, Europe, Hong Kong, Korea, India, Taiwan, and Thailand. He is the co-author with Alan I. Widiss of the three-volume treatise "Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Insurance" published by LexisNexis, has been on the Editorial Board of the CGL Reporter, and is an Advisor to the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal. Dean Thomas previously served as a Bigelow Teaching Fellow at the University of Chicago, a Fulbright Fellow in China, and the Tiera M. Farrow Faculty Scholar at UMKC.

Mary Beth Forshaw is a Partner in the Firm's Litigation Department. She has extensive experience representing clients in general commercial litigation and arbitration, including in matters relating to bankruptcy, insurance coverage, reinsurance, international arbitration and the financial industry. Ms. Forshaw's recent experience includes representation of Hanwha Group and ORIX Corporation in a billion dollar ICC arbitration arising out of the sale of Korea Life Insurance Company, representation of a domestic insurer in a three-month trial before a New Jersey state court relating to allocation and settlement issues, and representation of a foreign insurer in a several-week arbitration concerning automobile residual value accounting issues. Ms. Forshaw also successfully represented a client in a multi-billion dollar arbitration in which her client was found to have no obligation to provide non-products coverage to an insulation installer.

Carrie E. Cope is a shareholder of Cope Ehlers, P.C. and is head of the firm’s insurance regulatory and specialty lines claims and coverage consulting practices. She handles commercial lines’ claims arising under a wide variety of insurance policies including D&O liability, cyber risk, employment practices liability, fiduciary liability, errors & omissions and trade credit. Ms. Cope is the author of numerous book chapters, articles and blogs written on a wide variety of insurance topics. She has been a director on the Board of USPlate Glass Insurance Company since 2009.