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Allocating Insurance Coverage for Mass Tort Liabilities: Current Developments, Options, and Practical Tips

A live 90-minute CLE video webinar with interactive Q&A

This program is included with the Strafford CLE Pass. Click for more information.
This program is included with the Strafford All-Access Pass. Click for more information.

Thursday, July 24, 2025

1:00pm-2:30pm EDT, 10:00am-11:30am PDT

Early Registration Discount Deadline, Friday, June 27, 2025

or call 1-800-926-7926
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This CLE webinar will review current developments, options, and best practices for allocating liability among multiple insurers arising from long-tail mass tort claims. The program will discuss identifying dates of losses and implicated policies, allocation methodologies for indemnity and defense costs, dealing with gaps in coverage, the rise of elaborate risk-transfer strategies, and matters affecting the power's negotiation leverage. The panelists will also offer tips for navigating these thorny challenges.

Description

Mass tort long-tail claims refer to latent personal injuries that do not manifest or are not asserted until years or decades after the injury-causing event or exposure: asbestos, talc, tobacco, glyphosate, abuse claims, PFAS, and so forth. Claims are usually filed in multiple state courts. Defendants face multi-year losses involving continuous, indivisible damages claims straddling multiple policy years and involving multiple insurers. They also have to plan for future claimants. Before applying any apportionment method, the parties have preliminary work to identify dates of losses and policies that provide coverage.

Further complicating things, over the past 50 years, both insurers and policyholders have implemented elaborate and sometimes labyrinthine ways to shift risk and minimize potential liability, all of which affect coverage and allocation, including self-insurance, captives, parametric insurance, reinsurance, and more. Gaps in coverage may arise from selling businesses or from discontinuation or modification of coverage for particular risks or the intentional expansion of exclusions.

Additional issues may arise from the increased involvement of private equity in owning insurance companies or in purchasing legacy liabilities. Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have given insurers a voice in bankruptcy proceedings and have reduced the ability of parties to obtain releases through bankruptcy.

Listen as the experienced panel of insurance coverage attorneys discusses the latest developments in liability allocation and best practices to advocate and resolve priority of coverage disputes involving allocation of liability.

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Outline

  1. Overview of long-tail claims
  2. Identifying relevant policies
  3. Contract language bearing on allocation issues
  4. Allocation methods
    1. Dealing with present and future claims
    2. Impact of complex risk transfer strategies
    3. Impact of private equity
    4. Impact of changes to bankruptcy law
  5. Practical recommendations

Benefits

The panel will review these and other significant issues:

  • What is the effect of insurance ceasing to offer coverage for a particular risk?
  • How does the language of the relevant policies affect allocation?
  • Should an expert experienced in the economics of insurance help prepare proposed allocations?
  • Has the entry of private equity into the insurance space altered the ability to efficiently navigate allocation issues?

Faculty

Killian, Eugene
Eugene Killian, Jr.
Partner
The Killian Firm

Admitted to the Bar in New Jersey and New York, Mr. Killian has repeatedly been named one of New Jersey's...  |  Read More

Pollock, Jeffrey
Jeffrey M. Pollock
Managing Member
Pollock Law

Mr. Pollock focuses his practice on complex litigation and Appellate practice. He is recognized by Chambers USA and is...  |  Read More

Attend on July 24

Early Discount (through 06/27/25)

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Early Discount (through 06/27/25)

You may pre-order a recording to listen at your convenience. Recordings are available 48 hours after the webinar. Strafford will process CLE credit for one person on each recording. All formats include course handouts.

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