Session 5 - CCPA and GDPR: Handling Claims in a Changing Regulatory Environment

• Speakers:

• Nancy Aknin, Liberty Mutual

• Brooke Gartner, AXA XL

• Gino Mecoli, Reilly McDevitt & Henrich, P.C.

• Rebecca Rakoski, XPAN Law Group, LLC

This session’s presenters will outline the challenges organizations are facing in the rapidly changing data privacy and cybersecurity regulatory environment. We will examine the differences between the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and will discuss, in detail, the challenges raised by the enactment of and conflict between the provisions of the laws. The discussion will also include: the impact these regulations have on the way companies collect and process personal data and the issues facing  insurers confronted with responding to coverage questions. The audience will be presented with various scenarios whereby the directives of the provisions of the GDPR differ from those of the CCPA and scenarios wherein an insurer and insured must resolve these differences.

Session 5 - Mastering Mediation: Advanced Negotiation Strategies

• Speakers:

• Laura Frankel, JAMS - Frankel

• Jeffrey Hill, Hill & Lamb LLP

• Steven McMannon, CNA Insurance

• Mitchell Orpett, Tribler Orpett & Meyer, P.C.

How do we best posture a case for settlement at mediation? At what stage in the litigation is a case ripe for resolution? What is the best approach to navigating excessive settlement demands? The panel will discuss a wide range of issues including a mediation preparation checklist; whether a joint session adds value; factors which may impact your settlement evaluation; how to best utilize the mediator; and strategies for breaking an impasse. Even experienced claim professionals and defense counsel will refine and expand their negotiation skills by attending this panel presentation.

Session 5 - The Impact of the Opioid Crisis on the Practicing Physician

• Speakers:

• Colleen Graham, AIC- M, AIC, AIS, Coverys

• John Hicks, Norris Keplinger Hicks & Welder, LLC

• R. Douglas Vaughn, Deutsch Kerrigan, LLP

This program will speak to the opioid crisis and how it impacts the daily practicing physician and the incoming claims for the insurance industry. We will explain how physicians deal with protecting their practice from the non-obvious drug seeking patient; and, how the physician has become the “bad guy” in prescribing pain relief for their patients. Further, we will discuss how to deal with these issues and how they protect from being sued. Discussion will also cover how the average physician can identify when their patient has become addicted to narcotics and how to handle that issue once identified; the impact it is having on the malpractice insurance industry; and, examples of cases in litigation and how to defend these actions given the constant talk of the crisis in the press/media. Included in the discussion will be how the government’s involvement on pursuing physicians for over prescribing narcotics has impacted the physician’s daily practice.

Break

Session 6 - Collaboration - The Importance of Expectations & Relationships in the Litigation Process

• Speakers:

• Robert Blasio, GB Specialty (Division of Gallagher Bassett)

• John E. Hall, Hall Booth Smith, P.C.

• Richard Henderson, TransRe

• Cory Meyers, Baptist Health South Florida

• Stephanie Sheps, Coverys

In an era of increasing deductibles and SIRs, there has been every more complexity in defining and communicating with the Team of individuals who may have input into the strategy and goals in defending a matter in suit. In fact, these same complexities are now ever more apparent in devising strategies even in a pre-suit context. They may include how aggressively to pursue pre-suit investigation, whether to expend resources gathering all relevant documents and meeting witnesses or, perhaps directing those resources toward resolving a claim pre-suit. The answers to these and other critical issues are not always easily rectified and the objectives, considerations and ultimate desire in a given situation is largely impacted by the “seat” one occupies in the decision chain. The communication level/ channels which may be required to formulate a plan often no longer involves communication with one “contact person” but may now require interfacing with a number of key – input decision-makers whose interests may not be aligned and who may view a “successful result” in very different, if not competing, terms. Thus, navigating this dynamic is often as complex and stressful as dealing with the plaintiff’s attorneys seeking compensation for their clients.

Session 6 - Current Trends and Issues in Cyber Claims, Third Party Litigation and Biometric Discrimination

• Speakers:

• Dianna McCarthy, Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan LLP

• Karen Painter Randall, Unknown

• Kenneth Williams, Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company

The shear volume of cyber insurance claims has accelerated at a pace unlike other types of insurance. It's a consequence of billions on connected devices, the incalculable value of digital data and the evolutions of the law. This panel tackles trends in cyber claims and issues that are leading to litigation or have recently been decided. Factors determining whether a claim is referred for subrogation and likelihood of success will also be discussed.

Session 6 - Is the “Paperless” Movement Good for Managed Health Care? Preventing and Managing High-Tech Fraud

• Speakers:

• Sharon Fry, Self Employed

• Clarence Lee, Saul Ewing LLP

• Heidi McCormick, Ironshore Insurance Company

• William McDonough, Marsh

As the managed health care industry moves towards becoming entirely “paperless,” the threat of high-tech fraud has grown. While managed care is complex, preventing fraud doesn’t have to be. This panel will address emerging fraud risks in managed care, how the industry is responding to those risks, and the coverage implications.

Break

Session 7 - Nuclear Verdicts: How to Value Cases Post-Mushroom Cloud

• Speakers:

• Japhet Boutin, Zurich North America

• Kimberly Johnston, Verisk

• Lisa Shrewsberry, Traub Lieberman Straus & Shrewsberry LLP

• Kathryn Whitlock, McAngus Goudelock & Courie, LLC (MGC)

In this session, the panel would lead a discussion about the reason for “nuclear verdicts.” All across the country, verdicts of eye-popping size have been returned. Consider the $8 billion Risperdal verdict in Philadelphia this year. The court reduced it to a mere $6.8 million. Or the $1 billion verdict returned by an Alexandria, Virginia jury in a copyright infringement case. In Salem, Oregon a jury found the State liable for $1 billion for breach of contract. And in Georgia, a jury returned a $1 billion verdict against a security company in a premises liability rape case.
This is a sea change in the verdicts that jurors returned 10 years or even 5 years ago. The discussion will focus on the reasons for the change, which may be a change in the economy, a change in juror demographic, or something else. It will then turn to how claims professionals of every stripe need to take this into consideration and adjust their case evaluation, as well as their approach to litigation overall. The rules have changed and the defense needs to keep up.

Break

Session 8 - The Domino Effect: The Catastrophic Financial Fallout from Insurance Brokers’ Failure to Procure Proper Cyber Insurance for Their Clients

• Speakers:

• Anthony Dolce, The Hartford

• Elizabeth Fitch, Righi Fitch Law Group

• Kelly Geary, EPIC

• Theodore Schaer, Zarwin, Baum, DeVito, Kaplan, Schaer & Toddy

Insurance brokers/agents are unnecessarily exposing themselves to risks because they are selling cyber insurance products without fully understanding them or their client's cyber risk profile. Ignorance or lack of due diligence is the most probable explanation. With the avalanche of cyber breach claims, companies are relying on their insurance brokers/agents to procure comprehensive cyber coverage. Companies are assuming that the purchase of a cyber-policy provides complete financial protection. They assume wrong, as do their brokers. When the cyber insurer rightfully denies coverage, insureds are looking to their insurance brokers to make them financially whole and are in turn triggering a new wave of litigation: errors and omission claims against insurance broker. This seminar will unpack the insurance brokers obligations and exposures through a case study where the broker fails to procure first party coverage for a Cloud Service Provider. When the CSP experiences a ransomware attack and does not have coverage to the pay ransom, the domino effect is catastrophic. The CSP’s clients who are comprised mainly of lawyers and accountants cannot access their data and suffer business disruption losses and are exposed to liability from their clients. All of those exposures could have been avoided had the CSP’s insurance broker procured first party coverage. Is the insurance broker/agent now on the hook?

Session 8 - Who Knows This Home? Hidden Conditions and the Brokers that "Find" Them

• Speakers:

• Alex Chazen, Lorber, Greenfield & Olsen, LLP

• Sam McDermott, Wood Smith Henning & Berman LLP

• Linda Pretzel-Roberts, RiverStone Resources LLC

• Sam Terzich, GB Specialty (Division of Gallagher Bassett)

The residential real estate broker's disclosure responsibilities appear relatively clear: inspect what you can, disclose what you know, document what you see, follow through as you can. But residential real estate transactions are never that simple. What a broker can "inspect" is not always certain. What they "know" is not often obvious. What they should "document" is not often evident. How they should "follow through" is not often apparent. This lack of certitude creates blurred boundaries that invite litigation when post-transaction discoveries reveal conditions that take time, money and effort to correct.
This course will explore the highly gray area of the Broker's Disclosure Duties. Session participants will come away with a better understanding of how the broker's inspection and disclosure duties interplay with damage claims, and how to properly set claim value in light of that dynamic.

Networking