Bert Wells

Bert is a partner in the Insurance Recovery Group. He advises clients in their pursuit of insurance coverage claims of all types – for mass torts, business interruption, property damage, and cyber claims, as well as D&O, fiduciary/benefits, errors and omissions, environmental, and other third-party liability claims. Through litigation, arbitration, and negotiation, he positions clients for optimal insurance recoveries and attainment of their risk management goals. He has deep experience with coverage claims contested and recovered through reinsured captive insurers, and is also noted for the effective deployment and cross-examination of financial and scientific expert witnesses.

Experience

Representative matters

Representation of a large public benefit corporation in its claim for property damage and business interruption from a major hurricane against dozens of its insurers, achieving a high nine-figure recovery.

Representation of an industrial client’s captive insurer in claims against 20 of the reinsurers of the captive for coverage of underlying PFAS (“forever chemical”) mass tort claims, and environmental and related claims, comprising billions of dollars of potential exposure.

Representation of a North American building products company in litigation to assure availability of a decade-long swath of its historic general liability program to cover a potential nine-figure underlying liability for a mass tort property damage claim.

Experience

Representation of a rail operator in Hurricane Ida claims, achieving a nine-figure recovery due in part to a novel and successful reading of the applicable policy’s business interruption provisions.

Representation of a non-profit museum in its claim for storm flooding, achieving a recovery that was a multiple of the policy’s flood sublimit.

Representation of a regional bank in a disputed claim against its mortgage-guaranty insurance carrier respecting a half-billion-dollar mortgage portfolio resulting in a nine-figure recovery.

Representation of a transportation industry entity in an insurance coverage dispute with a high-layer excess insurer arising from a multi-fatality accident.

Representation of a non-debtor industrial corporation in safeguarding its own insurance programs and coverage rights in connection with the Chapter 11 proceedings of a former subsidiary facing mass tort claims that impinge on the former parent’s insurance programs.

Representation of a private aircraft leasing business in recovering for disputed jet engine damage claims under aviation policies.

Representation of an online retail entrepreneur in coverage claims arising from a major music publisher’s allegations of longstanding and extensive music copyright infringement, achieving recoveries across a dozen years’ worth of historic business insurance policies.

Representation of a mid-sized employer in a recovery for a hotly contested claim against its health insurer under its stop-loss insurance for employee health benefits.

Representations of multiple companies, including in litigation, for insurance recoveries for long-tail claims such as claims arising from asbestos-containing products, hazardous waste, and products with latent defects under general liability and aviation insurance programs.

Representations of multiple companies, including in litigation, for D&O insurance recoveries for securities actions, derivative actions, and related matters.

Representations of multiple companies for recoveries for cybersecurity breaches, IT system failures, and ransomware attacks, including in-progress ransomware attacks.

Representations of Fortune 500 companies in recoveries under D&O insurance for losses arising from DTSA and other trade secret litigation.