Our expertise enables us to assist policy holders, insurance providers

Non-Life Insurance (business interruption and Covid-19)

• Defense of major players in the event, restaurant, and hotel sectors, to obtain the application of business interruption guarantees in the context of the closure or banning of activities imposed by the Covid-19 crisis.
• Assistance to a major player in the performing arts industry, in the context of a dispute with its insurers, to contest the cancellation of its insurance policy after a very serious claim, and to obtain the application of the cancellation guarantee.
• Assistance to a leading company in the management and operation of accommodation facilities for dependent elderly people (“EHPAD”), to obtain compensation for operating losses and additional costs incurred in the context of the Covid-19 crisis.
• Assistance to one of the main owners and operators of shopping centers in France, following the closure of a large number of stores in shopping centers due to the Covid-19 crisis, in order to obtain the application of business interruption guarantees.

Civil Liability Insurance, Industrial Risks, Reinsurance

• Advice to a reinsurer on the follow-up to a claim made by a second tier reinsurer on the basis of their reinsurance contract, as well as drafting a commutation treaty.
• Assistance to a listed company in order to obtain the application of a civil liability insurance policy for corporate officers from an online insurance program, and conduct of legal proceedings in France in order to obtain the settlement by the insurers of costs and fees incurred to defend the client’s interests in the context of legal proceedings initiated against it in the United States.
• Analysis of a civil liability insurance policy, and assistance in a warranty claim against the insurer who denies its warranty but co-leads the lawsuit.
• Assistance to a helicopter fleet rental and maintenance company, whose civil liability is sought following a helicopter accident resulting in several deaths and injuries.
• Assistance to the French leader in the manufacture of electrical components, in the context of a series of damages requiring a recall campaign. Analysis of guarantees over time, conduct of defense proceedings against customer claims, and claim proceedings against the insurers.
• Analysis of a civil liability insurance policy for corporate officers with a view to invoking the insurance coverage, then follow-up of litigation before the courts.
• Defense of a railway maintenance equipment manufacturer, whose liability is sought by the railway network operator and by the works contractor, following the derailment of a track replacement train, and assistance in the claim for insurance coverage.
• Defense of a consulting firm in a dispute against its insurer, to obtain the application of its civil liability coverage, and coverage of its defense costs in international arbitration proceedings.
• Assistance to a listed company with its civil liability insurance policy for corporate officers, and conduct of legal proceedings in order to obtain the reimbursement of defense costs incurred on behalf of numerous executives, in the context of ongoing criminal investigations in France and Belgium. The legal qualification of the “penalty clause”, which is opposed by the insurer, is being discussed in this procedure.

Life insurance

• Defense of life insurance companies in numerous disputes, following the exercise of the waiver option by policyholders. The Firm has started a very important change in the Court of Cassation’s case law (Cass. civ. 2nd, May 19, 2016), who now considers the abuse of law theory opposable to policyholders wishing to exercise the extended waiver option, entitling now  only good faith policyholders to exercise it.
• Assistance to a life insurance company, victim of a massive fraud by insurance intermediaries, from the filing of the complaint to the recovery of the amount of the sentence pronounced against the fraudsters in France and abroad (Luxembourg, Switzerland, Netherlands, Greece).
• Assistance to a life insurance company in a dispute with its reinsurers concerning questions of interpretation of certain regulatory and contractual provisions relating to the fate of financial products generated by certain regulation.
• Recommendations to a life insurance company, for the purpose of a voluntary intervention in a procedure before the Court of Cassation, in the context of which a policyholder requested the transmission of a Prioritized Constitutional Question (QPC) to the Constitutional Council, as well as follow-up during the proceedings.
• Draft of a consultation on behalf of a life insurance intermediary following the Ekert law on escheated contracts.
• Review of delegation and pledge contracts for life insurance policies on behalf of a life insurance company.
• Assistance to a Luxembourg life insurance company in the context of litigation against certain policyholders who claimed that the violation of the investment strategy they had chosen had caused financial losses to be covered by the company.
• Assistance to a Luxembourg life insurance company in the context of litigation against various policyholders questioning the eligibility of the underlying assets under French regulation.