Horizontal vs. Vertical Exhaustion of Insurance: Priority of Coverage and Settlement for Below Policy Limits
Recording of a 90-minute CLE video webinar with Q&A
This CLE course will provide insurance counsel with a review of essential issues in horizontal and vertical exhaustion, the interrelationship between the primary carrier's obligation and those of the excess insurer, and best practices to resolve coverage priority disputes.
Outline
- Overview of horizontal and vertical insurance coverage in the additional insured context
- The priority of coverage between the primary carrier and excess insurer and the triggering of excess insurance
- The dichotomy of views among states and recent case law
- Strategies for resolving issues when the primary carrier settles for less than the policy limits
Benefits
The panel will review these and other vital issues:
- When additional insured coverage involves both primary and excess policies, what are the best strategies for resolving vertical vs. horizontal exhaustion?
- How can counsel resolve issues that arise between the insured, the excess carrier, and primary carrier when the primary carrier settles for less than the policy limits?
- How do you identify potentially problematic policy language when triggering excess insurance for continuous injury claims?
Faculty
Eric B. Hermanson
Partner
White and Williams
Mr. Hermanson represents primary and excess insurance carriers in high-exposure litigation on contested coverage... | Read More
Mr. Hermanson represents primary and excess insurance carriers in high-exposure litigation on contested coverage matters. Over a 30-year career, he has litigated more than two hundred cases, and successfully advised on hundreds more, in almost every U.S. state and the District of Columbia. Mr. Hermanson serves as Chair of the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS), Self-Insurers and Risk Management Committee; Vice-Chair of the ABA TIPS Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee; and past chair of the Boston Bar Association (BBA) Insurance Law Subcommittee. In 2019 he was elected to the American College of Coverage Counsel.
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Anna M. Perry
Attorney
Saxe Doernberger & Vita
Ms. Perry has a wealth of experience in contract reviews, insurance program evaluations, and coverage analysis.
| Read MoreMs. Perry has a wealth of experience in contract reviews, insurance program evaluations, and coverage analysis.
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Scott M. Seaman
Co-Chair Global Insurance Services Practice Group
Hinshaw & Culbertson
Mr. Seaman is a commercial litigator and trial lawyer with more than 35 years of experience. Scott is widely regarded... | Read More
Mr. Seaman is a commercial litigator and trial lawyer with more than 35 years of experience. Scott is widely regarded as one of the leading attorneys in the United States representing insurers and reinsurers in property and casualty matters. He is known for employing his deep knowledge of the law and insurance industry, strategic thinking, and honed trial and appellate advocacy to produce creative solutions and outstanding results for clients. Clients regularly turn to Scott and his team for counsel and representation in challenging and high-stakes insurance and business matters. Mr. Seaman has a long track record of successfully representing companies before trial courts, appellate courts, and arbitration panels across the country in a variety of cases and matters involving general liability coverage (primary, umbrella, and excess), professional liability coverage, directors and officers liability insurance, first-party property coverage, bad faith and extra-contractual matters, fee disputes, and facultative and treaty reinsurance contracts. He also advises and represents companies on cyber, privacy, data breach, IoT, nanotechnology, gig economy, viruses and pandemics, representations and warranties, transactional insurance, social unrest, ESG, climate change, and other emerging issues, as well as a wide-range of case-specific and portfolio issues. He also has handled a variety of challenging international, professional liability, health/life science, director and officer liability, tort and product liability, and business and commercial cases.
He was named to the inaugural list of Midwest Trailblazers by The American Lawyer magazine for his "high-profile, complex insurance coverage cases nationwide, which resulted in precedent setting rulings that have altered insurance law." He is co-author of Allocation of Losses in Complex Insurance Coverage Claims (11th Ed. 2023) He is ranked Band I by Chambers USA.
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