Handling Insurance Settlement Disputes Between Insurers and Policyholders (Including 1hr. of Legal Ethics)

Peter S. Selvin | Ervin Cohen & Jessup, LLP

Peter S. Selvin, Chair of ECJ’s Insurance Coverage and Recovery Department, is a business trial lawyer with more than 30 years of experience. While he specializes in the areas of insurance coverage and international litigation, his experience has touched many different areas of law, including real estate, intellectual property, and professional liability disputes. Within those areas, Peter’s practice includes both trying cases and counseling clients on how to avoid litigation. Chief among his strengths is his ability to counsel clients and help achieve strategic business solutions.

In 2014 Peter was selected as a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum®, an honorary trial lawyers association whose members have won million and multi-million dollar verdicts.

Peter has been published in numerous business and legal publications, including the International Financial Law Review, Executive Counsel, Risk & Insurance and Global Counsel. His publications have appeared in professional publications in the UK, Germany, France, Mexico, and Japan, among other countries. He also frequently authors insurance industry updates for ECJ’s California Insurance Law Commentary blog.

His notable publications include a chapter on “Avoiding and Resolving Disputes In International Commercial Litigation” in the treatise International Law for CEOs: Lessons From Leading International Lawyers and a chapter on International Service of Process in the treatise Transatlantic Commercial Litigation and Arbitration (Oceana). Since 2012, Peter has been the author of the chapter on dispute resolution in California that has been part of Law Business Research’s annual treatise on International Dispute Resolution, which is a standard reference work in this area.

Joseph A. Corsmeier | Law Office of Joseph A. Corsmeier, P.A.

Joseph A. Corsmeier is an “AV” rated attorney practicing in Palm Harbor, Florida. He concentrates his practice primarily in the areas of defense of attorney disciplinary matters before The Florida Bar, attorney admission matters before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, and professional license and disciplinary matters before the Boards of the State of Florida. He provides expert analysis and opinion on conflict of interest and other attorney disqualification and legal malpractice issues, and he has testified as an expert in both the federal and Florida courts.

Mr. Corsmeier served as an Assistant State Attorney in the Sixth Judicial Circuit from 1986 to 1990 where he prosecuted felonies exclusively from June 1987, and as Bar Counsel for The Florida Bar’s Department of Lawyer Regulation from 1990 to 1998. He also represents police officers as counsel to the Fraternal Order of Police.

He is the author of numerous articles for many bar publications, he has spoken at numerous local and statewide seminars on various topics, including ethics and professionalism. He was an instructor of paralegal ethics at the Rollins College Tampa campus until it closed in 1996 and he is currently an adjunct professor at St. Petersburg College teaching paralegal ethics. He received his undergraduate degree from Florida State University and his J.D. from Mercer University.

He is admitted to practice in all Florida Courts, the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the Middle District of Florida. He is a member of The Florida Bar, American Bar Association, the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, and the Clearwater and St. Petersburg Bar Associations.

Session I – Handling Insurance Settlement Disputes Between Insurers and Policyholders | 3:00pm – 4:00pm

• The general rule | 3:00pm – 3:05pm
• Consequences if the insurer declines coverage | 3:05pm – 3:10pm
• Settlement issues when the insurer defends under a Reservation of Rights | 3:10pm – 3:20pm
• What happens when the insured refuses to consent to a settlement that the insurer is willing to accept | 3:20pm – 3:30pm
• What happens when the insurer rejects a settlement that the insured wants to accept | 3:30pm – 3:40pm
• Disputes about the funding of a settlement | 3:40pm – 3:50pm
• Q&A | 3:50pm – 4:00pm

Break | 4:00pm – 4:10pm

Session II – Ethics 101: Maintaining an ethical practice | 4:10pm – 5:10pm

• Screening for conflicts of interest at the beginning of the representation | 4:10pm – 4:15pm
• Creating a file organization system and checklists for managing case deadlines; pleadings index; communication records/logs; time entries/billing logs; discovery; research; misc. | 4:15pm – 4:25pm
• Copying client with all relevant documents related to representation and provide periodic updates. Conduct periodic file reviews to maintain progression of the files | 4:25pm – 4:30pm
• Avoiding conflicts of interest; simultaneous representation in same matter, representing multiple clients, and conflicts of interest in business transactions and relationships with clients (including loans) or acquiring an interest adverse to the client | 4:30pm – 4:40pm
• Preserving confidentiality: Absent an exception, confidential information must always be preserved even after the client dies. Beware of confidential information in e- filing | 4:40pm – 4:50pm
• Closing Files and Records Management | 4:50pm – 4:55pm
• Withdrawal/termination of representation and protection of client’s interest | 4:55pm – 5:00pm
• Importance of nonengagement/disengagement letters | 5:00pm – 5:05pm
• Drafting fee agreements and charging fees | 5:05pm – 5:10pm