UM/UIM Claims After the Limits Wave: Getting More out of UIM Coverage and Prosecuting Insurers for Bad Faith Damages

Robert C. T. Reed, Shareholder | Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen, P.C

Robert C. T. Reed is a shareholder and personal injury attorney in the Richmond, Virginia office of Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen, P.C., where his practice is devoted to representing seriously injured clients and their families in car accident, trucking accident, product liability, and premises liability matters. He is known throughout Virginia for his work in motor vehicle insurance law and for taking on difficult and complex cases.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Reed earned his B.A. in Psychology from Boston College in 2004, received his J.D., cum laude, from the Washington and Lee University School of Law in 2009, and completed the National Trial Advocacy College at the University of Virginia School of Law in 2013. He is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is admitted before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and all Virginia circuit and general district courts.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Reed has been selected to Virginia Super Lawyers each year from 2021 through 2026 and was previously named a Virginia Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2015 through 2019. He has been included in the Ones to Watch list in the 2022 and 2023 editions of Best Lawyers in America, and in 2015 the National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys recognized him as a Top 10 Personal Injury Attorney Under 40.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Reed has chaired the Insurance Committee of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association since 2020, chaired its Insurance Law Section from 2020 to 2023, and has served on the Legislative Committee of its Insurance Section since 2018. He serves on the Executive Committee and the Judicial Nomination Committee of the Richmond Bar Association, is a member of the American Association for Justice, and belongs to the John Marshall Inn of Court, where he has chaired the Programs Committee since 2025. His recent presentations and publications include UIM Stacking at the October 2025 VTLA Insurance Law Seminar, New UM/UIM Bad Faith Claims in a January 2025 VTLA Campfire Webinar, authorship of Sources of Coverage in 2023, and Cut and Run: Settlements Under Va. Code § 38.2-2206 at the July 2020 VTLA Advanced Auto Retreat.

• Experience

Mr. Reed has practiced at Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen since 2012 and became a shareholder of the firm in 2022. He previously practiced with Tiller Law Group, P.C. from 2011 to 2012 and with Redmon, Peyton & Braswell, L.L.P. from 2010 to 2011. His reported cases include Hall v. Backyard Leisure, LLC (E.D. Va. 2013) and Richeson v. Big Lots Stores, Inc. (W.D. Va. 2012).

Robert F. Friedman, Partner | Friedman Fisher Verity PLLC

Robert F. Friedman is a partner at Friedman Fisher Verity PLLC in Richmond, Virginia, where he devotes his practice to insurance coverage litigation on behalf of claimants and policyholders. He has practiced insurance coverage law for nearly fifteen years and, before founding the firm, led the coverage team at a Richmond insurance defense and coverage firm.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Friedman earned his B.A., cum laude, from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from William & Mary Law School, where he served on the Editorial Board of the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. He is a member of the Virginia State Bar and is admitted before the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Friedman has been selected to Virginia Super Lawyers in 2024 and 2025 for insurance coverage and was named a Virginia Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2020 and 2021. He has been included in Best Lawyers in America Ones to Watch for insurance law from 2021 through 2025, and in 2016 Virginia Lawyers Weekly selected him as one of fourteen members of the inaugural class of its Up & Coming Lawyers.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Friedman has served as the adjunct professor for Insurance Law at William & Mary Law School since 2016, where he has taught more than 100 students. He chaired the Insurance Coverage Section of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys from 2016 to 2017, presented at the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association’s Sources of Coverage Seminar in 2023, and is a member of the Richmond Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association. His publications include co-authorship of the Virginia chapter of Insurance Bad Faith: A Compendium of State Law and articles in the Journal of Civil Litigation and the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal.

• Experience

Mr. Friedman has extensive experience in state and federal court, including appellate matters in which he has prevailed before both the Supreme Court of Virginia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He regularly handles declaratory judgment actions and breach of contract claims, provides coverage advice to attorneys handling personal injury claims, and frequently participates in global mediations and judicial settlement conferences. His work spans personal and commercial auto policies, including uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, as well as commercial general liability, trucking, excess and umbrella, professional liability, and homeowners and business owners policies, together with indemnification and additional insured contractual provisions, and he has extensive experience with bad faith claims. His reported cases include Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co. v. Erie Ins. Exch., 297 Va. 455 (2019), and Khattab v. Berkley Reg’l Ins. Co., 598 F. Supp. 3d 386 (E.D. Va. 2022), aff’d (4th Cir. 2023).

SESSION 1 – UIM Coverage Analysis to Maximize Recovery | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

This session examines the wave of legislative reforms in Virginia that have fundamentally restructured UM/UIM coverage limits, permitted resolution with the liability insurer before pursuing UIM, eliminated tortfeasor liability offsets allowing for UIM stacking. Attorneys will learn how to analyze coverage layers under both old- and new-law policies, identify stacking waiver defects, and sequence demands against tortfeasor liability carriers and UM/UIM carriers to maximize recovery without forfeiting benefits. Participants leave with a repeatable coverage-analysis checklist and a demand sequence calibrated to the post-offset-elimination landscape.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – Prosecuting First-Party UM/UIM Bad Faith | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

This session equips plaintiff-side attorneys with a litigation framework for pursuing first-party UM/UIM bad faith claims under recently amended Virginia Code §§ 38.2-2206 and 8.01-66.1 (effective July 1, 2024), which create a mechanism to obtain significant penalties against UIM carriers who delay claims and make unreasonable offers. Attorneys will learn how to trigger statutory liability, build the evidentiary record from first demand through trial, and follow the post-trial procedure to obtain bad faith penalties. Attendees will leave able to identify actionable carrier conduct, draft demands that start the statutory clock, assess UIM carrier bad faith conduct, and posture their cases to recover a verdict in addition to double damages, attorney’s fees, litigation costs, and prejudgment interest.