Introduction
Maddin Hauser’s Defense and Insurance Coverage group has handled thousands of cases involving the needs of the insurance industry and its insureds. We represent clients’ interests in all state, federal and appellate courts, FINRA arbitrations, administrative tribunals, as well as ADR proceedings. We defend a wide variety of professional liability, financial institutions, error and omission, employment and general liability matters.
Professional Liability
No attorney, accountant, architect, engineer, insurance agent, financial advisor, broker/dealer, psychologist, psychiatrist or other professional is immune from a claim. Not only has the number of professional liability claims dramatically increased in the last decade, but the cost of defense is spiraling higher and higher due to expanded theories of liability under which a professional may be found responsible to others.
In your defense, you want a firm that understands your practice, excels in the field of professional liability, and comprehends the importance of maintaining your reputation.
Over the last 42 years, our defense attorneys have focused on representing attorneys and other professionals in diverse matters such as malpractice, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, intentional torts, fraud, libel, and slander as well as violation of state and federal statutes, including civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Our class action defense work in this area has garnered national recognition.
We know time gets diverted from your practice when a claim is asserted. Our goal is to remove you from the problem as early as possible to reach the right result with minimum disruption to your practice.
Business Professionals
All too often business professionals become targets in our litigious society. That’s why investment advisors, and corporate officers and directors must rely on a seasoned legal team to vigorously defend all claims while protecting the professionals’ good names and reputations.
Our group has a proven track record of successfully defending business professionals in every type of case. Our litigators will forcefully try cases to completion in any forum and prosecute all appeals. When warranted, we pursue case resolution by determining early on whether a lawsuit should be dismissed by motion or settlement. Speedy and economical resolution is often the best outcome for any professional. Our professional clients have included:
- Attorneys
- Architects & engineers
- Accountants
- Consumer law defense
- Directors & officers
- Employment practices (including discrimination)
- Broker/dealers
- Registered representatives
- Governmental liability
- Insurance agents
- Real estate agents & brokers
- Appraisers
- Adjusters & surveyors
- Financial advisors
- Investment counselors
- Psychiatrists
- Psychologists
- Ambulatory care clinics
- Security guards
- Trade secret protection
Employment Litigation Defense
Our employment litigation defense practice represents employers in all aspects of employment litigation. We represent clients in wrongful discharge, employment, and sexual harassment litigation in federal and state courts and in administrative proceedings. We defend clients against all types of discrimination claims, including those arising from gender, race, national origin, age, and disability.
Our attorneys also handle equal opportunity investigations and civil rights complaints.
Our skill in assessing loss from the beginning is equal to our skill in handling matters from start to finish. We keep our clients involved and informed at every step of the litigation.
Insurance Coverage
During the past 42 years in an ever-changing industry landscape, our team has been proud to assist its insurance carrier clients in a broad spectrum of matters. Insurance companies rely on our firm to draft policy language, render coverage opinions, act as monitoring counsel, and advise excess carriers and reinsurers.
Our group enjoys an imposing reputation for analyzing and resolving complex insurance coverage disputes. We handle coverage issues under both claims made and occurrence policies. These include lawyers’ professional liability policies, accountants’ professional liability policies, employment practices policies, directors’ and officers’ policies, agents’ and brokers’ policies, title insurance policies, and ambulatory care policies. Our cases have involved a wide variety of substantive issues such as:
- Application fraud
- Imputing prior acts knowledge of one firm member to the firm
- Imputing prior acts knowledge of a predecessor entity to the successor entity
- Business enterprise exclusions
- Intentional acts exclusions
- Per claim limits vs. aggregate limits
- Insured vs. insured exclusions
- Gaining a profit/advantage exclusions
- Retroactive date
- Late notice
- Additional insured status/insured contracts
- Related wrongful acts
- Interpretation of critical phrases (e.g., “arising out of” and “in fact”) in context of various exclusions
- Allocation & priority among multiple insurers
- “Of counsel” coverage
- Coverage for “innocent insureds”
General Liability
The partners and associates in our Defense and Insurance Coverage Group have broad based experience in a wide variety of cases involving personal injuries and property damage, including catastrophic loss. The firm defends claims arising out of ownership or possession of property, operation of motor vehicles, liquor law liability, sports induced injuries and defamation just to name a few examples. These cases are litigated in both state and federal court and have included:
- Construction law
- Dram shop
- Environmental law
- Highway design & maintenance
- Pest control
- Premises (public and private)
- Products liability
- Property law
Our attorneys are innovators, recognized repeatedly for their contributions to our clients and the legal profession. We are involved in many precedent setting matters. Our members are often called on to speak to client groups, professional groups and carriers alike on a wide range of legal issues.
