Insurers have shown a willingness to sue defense lawyers in cases in which they are hit for excess verdicts and to sue coverage counsel for giving allegedly flawed advice leading to extracontractual liability. Plaintiffs in bad-faith cases have sued the insurer’s coverage counsel for aiding and abetting the insurer’s bad faith. Furthermore, plaintiffs in bad-faith cases now seem willing to sue defense lawyers who surrendered an excess verdict for malpractice in the same case in which they sue the insurer, or to allege that the insurer should be liable for defense counsel’s conduct on an agency theory. Long story short, the issue in many extracontractual cases is no longer just the insurer’s liability - it is also the conduct and potential liability of lawyers for the insurer or the insured. What’s a lawyer to do? This panel of lawyers experienced in insurance and professional liability litigation will attempt to answer that question.

Speakers:   

• Clay Crawford, Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC
• Lisa Pake, Haar & Woods, LLP
• Douglas R. Richmond, Lockton Companies, LLC