Insurance Coverage Services

The ability to recover insurance proceeds is a critical aspect of risk management that is routinely faced by our clients, both businesses and individuals, under a variety of types of policies. Insurance coverage issues can be complicated and intimidating to policyholders, and results depend on having an attorney who understands this unique area of the law.

Our attorneys who practice in insurance coverage have broad experience advising and assisting clients as they navigate complex insurance recovery issues. Our goal is to resolve coverage disputes amicably and efficiently for clients. However, when amicable resolution of a coverage dispute is not possible, our attorneys are prepared to litigate and arbitrate insurance coverage issues on behalf of policyholders—with proven results.

A few examples of results obtained by DeWitt coverage attorneys:

• Established insurance coverage for a Wisconsin paper company for alleged environmental liabilities in excess of $100 million after a five-week jury trial in Wisconsin state court and successfully defended the jury’s verdict on appeal. The decision was affirmed by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals
• Secured millions of dollars in coverage for a Wisconsin city after its insurers denied coverage for the costs of remediating former city landfills
• Obtained a ruling on summary judgment on behalf of an individual client finding insurance coverage under both a homeowner’s insurance policy and an umbrella policy after a tragic accident occurred on the homeowner’s property
• Defended two companies in litigation in both state and federal court seeking the multi-million-dollar costs of remediating a leaking landfill. We secured judgments in both federal and state court dismissing all claims against one of the defendants, reached a settlement of all claims against the other defendant, and then successfully represented the settling defendant in recovering most of the cost of the settlement from its insurers
• Obtained policy limits under a commercial crime coverage form for a family-owned business after it was discovered that an executive had been stealing from the company
• In an appeal that went to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, we successfully established that a homeowner’s insurer had breached its duty to defend and indemnify its policyholder who had been sued by his neighbors for allegedly violating a restrictive covenant
• Assisted a policyholder in successfully navigating complicated insurance coverage issues after a data breach resulted in significant losses

Our experience litigating insurance coverage matters on behalf of policyholders, coupled with our vast experience helping clients proactively resolve disputes, allows us to approach each insurance coverage matter with a perspective of what obstacles may stand in the way.

When it comes to insurance coverage, litigation is not the only service our coverage attorneys provide. Our attorneys also routinely assist clients with pre-litigation and transactional issues that arise involving insurance coverage. We assist clients with a variety of non-litigation issues, such as understanding their insurance policies, drafting insurance language in business contracts, and reviewing policies to help clients identify gaps and issues with their coverage portfolio.