Business Interruption Litigation Support

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a far-reaching impact on businesses across the country and throughout the world, putting strain and pressure on the insurance industry more than ever before. Bates Group’s industry-leading insurance, forensic accounting and economic damages experts stand ready to assist Insurers and agents in the many challenges they face as result of the pandemic, including pre-litigation claims reviews and multi-faceted support should a matter proceed to litigation. Our insurance litigation team works side-by-side with regional and multinational insurance companies, reinsurance firms, underwriters and their in-house and outside counsel.

 

Bates Group Areas of Expertise:

Insurance Experts

Bates Groups’ insurance experts are well versed with insurance industry customs, practices, and standards, standard of care, coverage analysis, and claims practices. We consult on or testify to the follow aspects of coverage litigation claims:

• Review of policy underwriting and drafting history of policies
• Application of case law precedent as it relates to the specific facts and circumstances of the coverage issues.
• Rendering coverage opinions based on policy provisions, exclusions, conditions and limitations
• Claim adjudication
• Suitability of policy coverage
• Actuarial analysis of claims reserves for GAAP & statutory reporting
• Assessment of civil authority claims
• Assessment of physical property damage claims
• Assessment of exclusions including, but not limited to: virus, pandemic, pollution and bacteria
• Application of reinsurance coverage

Forensic Accounting and Damages Experts

Bates Group’s team of forensic accounting and damages experts with CPA, Chartered Accountant, Certified in Financial Forensics, Certified Fraud Examiner and Certified Valuation Analyst designations have experience reviewing, critiquing and adjusting claimed losses for reserve setting, undertaking actuarial analyses for setting loss reserves, and providing pretrial consulting or expert witness testimony.

Our experts are experienced at providing analyses of lost business income or profits, lost wages, and out-of-pocket losses analysis across, but not limited to, the following areas:

• Insurers charged with wrongful denials of claims
• Employers who took drastic actions to keep their companies solvent but are alleged to have used discriminatory criteria in doing so, or whose workers claim they were not adequately protected from on-the-job coronavirus exposure
• Insurance agents and brokers accused of recommending inadequate policy limits
• Investment advisors whose clients either panicked during the stock market drop or were forced to liquidate their holdings due to COVID-19-related exigencies.
• Real estate brokers sued because of drops in property values, or buyers who lack the income to pay their mortgage loans and allege there were undisclosed defects in the premises
• Accountants whose clients contend they were not clearly advised regarding changes in tax rules or deadlines

Litigation Support

Bates Group has decades of experience designing and managing large-scale eDiscovery and managed document review projects for all types of litigation and investigations. Retaining Bates Group enables organizations to leverage the advantages of highly experienced discovery specialists and technology-enabled e-discovery review solutions, allowing counsel to focus their time and effort on the high-value tasks you were hired to perform.

 

Contact us to learn more:

Andrew Daniel, Director, Securities Litigation Expert and Consultant - adaniel@batesgroup.com

A. Christine Davis, Managing Director, Forensic Accounting and Commercial Damages - cdavis@batesgroup.com

Sheila Murphy, Insurance, Litigation and Regulatory Expert- smurphy@batesgroup.com

Greg Faucher, Managing Consultant, Insurance and Actuarial Practice Leader - gafucher@batesgroup.com