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This website is authored by Lester Levy, Esq.
a founding member of JAMS.

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You are here: Home / Archives for insurer participation

Why Early Insurer Participation is Critical

September 24, 2015 by Lester Levy Leave a Comment

environmental mediation processIn many environmental cases, pre-pollution exclusion policies are invaluable assets that prove absolutely necessary in order to fund case resolution. This is especially where the insured-defendant is no longer in business or has few or no assets available to respond to the environmental cleanup requirement.   But while the insurance coverage may be key to resolving the case, it is not uncommon for there to be an adversarial relationship between the policyholder and its insurance companies, as each is attempting to spend as little as possible of its own money in contribution to the settlement effort.

Needless to say this dynamic can create an impediment to reaching a settlement. What often happens is that policyholders opt to keep their insurers in the dark as much a possible, in an attempt to avoid disclosure of facts and circumstances that could provide the insurers with a basis to deny coverage. There is tension between facts that tend to establish coverage and which may also be harmful to the policyholder in the underlying environmental case.

Traditional litigation often fails to provide an effective way for insurance carriers and the value of their policies to effectively participate or contribute to resolution of the main environmental court proceeding. There may be ancillary lawsuits between various policyholders and their insurers but these are normally stayed pending resolution of liability issues in the environmental case. Even if the insurance coverage cases are not stayed there is no formal – and little informal – coordination between the various cases. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Case Studies Tagged With: environmental mediation, insurer participation, mediation process

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About Me

lester-levy

I strongly believe in the value of mediation – said another way, environmental mediation really works. I would go even further: I believe that environmental disputes are perfectly suited to the mediation process – perhaps more so than any other area of legal practice. I have formed these views after mediating environmental cases for more than 20 years, throughout the United States, and having worked with thousands of lawyers, companies, insurance carriers, regulatory agencies and courts. My … Read more

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