Schedule/Sessions

Session 1 - The Attorney-Client Privilege and Practical Tips to Avoid a Bad Faith Set Up

• Speakers:

• Michael DeLonay, AXIS Specialty US Services, Inc.

• Mike Melendez, Kennedys

• Claire Muselman, Self Employed

• Jennifer Weinstein, Skyward Specialty Insurance

Is there a new trend to erode the insurer's attorney-client privilege in bad faith litigation? In Travelers Property Cas. Co. v. 100 Renaissance, LLC, 308 So.3d 847 (Miss. 2020), the Mississippi Supreme Court held that the insurer impliedly waived the attorney-client privilege and ordered the disclosure of communications between an adjuster and in-house counsel, as well as the in-house counsel's deposition. This presentation will discuss certain jurisdictions that are allowing the erosion of the insurer's attorney-client privilege, and best practices to avoid bad faith liability on a national basis. Learn of strategies for handling bad faith litigation, including a discussion of discovery tactics, dispositive motions, and trial strategies. The discussion will also include how to evaluate and avoid bad faith liability, along with best practices in claim evaluation and how to protect the attorney-client privilege.

Break

Session 2 - The Good, Bad, and Unethical: Avoiding Extra-Contractual Liability

• Speakers:

• Dwight Geddes, Metro Claims & Risk Mgmt

• Nigel Shepherd, Lanzko Consulting, Inc

• Gary Stephen, Stephen Consulting

• Nicole Varisco, Brooks & Berne PLLC

• John Wright, Hedrick Gardner Kincheloe & Garofalo, LLP

Join us as we discuss the ethical obligations of insurance professionals in adjusting claims, with specific focus on New York, New Jersey, and Georgia statutory requirements. Presenters will highlight the distinctions of these very different jurisdictions and the standards applicable to each, as well as tips for claim representatives to aid in avoiding crossing any ethical lines.

Break

Session 3 - Whose Skin is in the Game?

• Speakers:

• Susan Burns, Sedgwick

• Sidney Degan III, Degan, Blanchard & Nash

• Dotti DiFiore, Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A.

• Christopher Greene, Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP

• Catherine Woodfield, Admiral Insurance Company

This roundtable will discuss strategies, ideas, and techniques to minimize the risk an insured, who has “skin in the game,” takes through deductibles, SIRs, eroding limits, or inadequate aggregates; and, from putting it back on the insurer with cries of “bad faith!” 
When an insured elects a significant deductible, self-insured retention, or eroding limit policy, or when the policy aggregate turns out to be inadequate for multiple claims in a single policy year, the insured’s own finances are involved and the insured suddenly has a clear and unequivocal stake in the outcome of how the claim is handled. When it becomes apparent that  insureds are going to pay a heavy financial toll, they begin to look for ways to pass the risk. Frequently, this can turn to cries of “bad faith!” as they try to shift the risk back to the insurer.

Session 4 - Extra-Contractual Year-In Review: Part 1

• Speakers:

• David M. O'Connor, O'Connor & Associates, LLC

• Raymond Tittmann, TittmannWeix

• Meg Weist, Retired

This is the first of a two-part year-in-review where presenters and participants will discuss the most significant case law, as well as any administrative and regulatory extra-contractual decisions, from across the country in 2021 to engage participants and attendees in a compelling discussion of how these decisions impact industry claim handling.

The roundtable will dissect the current state of extra-contractual law and litigation by exploring its economic costs and financial impact on insurers and policyholders, examine fresh ideas and dynamic defenses to EC claims and litigation, and discuss innovative tools to maximize successful outcomes and results.

Break

Session 5 - Extra-Contractual Year-In Review: Part 2

• Speakers:

• Kathryn Anderson, KPA Law, PLLC

• Melissa Bailey, Copeland, Stair, Valz & Lovell, LLP

• Mitzy Fryer, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani

• R. Wade Vandiver, Vandiver Law & Mediation, PLLC

In this session panelists will continue a two-part year-in-review series with more significant case law, administrative, and regulatory extra-contractual decisions from across the country in 2021. Attendees will engage in a compelling discussion of industry best practices and claim handling procedures in respect to the same.

The roundtable will dissect the current state of extra-contractual law and litigation by exploring its economic costs and financial impact on insurers and policyholders, examining fresh ideas and dynamic defenses to EC claims and litigation, and achieving collaborative organizational implementation of the same to maximize successful outcomes and results. The roundtable also will address the impact of COVID-19 on claims handling and associated EC concerns.