Robert D. Chesler is a shareholder in Anderson Kill’s Newark office. Bob represents policyholders in a broad variety of coverage claims against their insurers and advises companies with respect to their insurance programs. Bob is also a member of Anderson Kill’s Cyber Insurance Recovery group. A leading participant in the birth of modern insurance law in the early 1980s, Bob has earned the reputation as “The Insurance Guru” for exceptional insurance coverage knowledge, and has emerged as a leader in such new areas of insurance coverage as cyber-insurance, D&O, IP, and privacy insurance. Bob has served as the attorney of record in more than 30 reported insurance decisions, representing clients including General Electric, Ingersoll-Rand, Westinghouse, Schering, Chrysler, and Unilever, as well as many small businesses including gas stations and dry cleaners. He has received numerous professional accolades, including a top-tier ranking for Insurance Litigation: New Jersey in Chambers USA: American’s Leading Lawyers for Business, which dubs him a “dominant force in coverage disputes” and cites a client who calls him “a dean of the insurance Bar; one of the brightest in writing about and analyzing insurance coverage.” He is also listed in The Legal 500, The Best Lawyers in America (https://www.bestlawyers.com/lawyers/robert-dchesler/596), Super Lawyers (https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Izh8Cv2YxOiPLV5Hokn6b? domain=profiles.superlawyers.com) and Who’s Who Legal in the Insurance and Reinsurance section of the publication. Bob is a relentless advocate for his clients in their efforts to obtain coverage from their insurance companies. He has strength in creatively analyzing complex insurance coverage disputes and rapidly driving towards resolution. He has spent his entire career obtaining settlements from insurance companies. He can speak “insurancese” as well as the insurers, and knows how to approach insurance companies, when to talk to them and when to litigate. His depth of experience enables him to distinguish a bad insurance claim from a good one, and understand and implement best strategies for obtaining money for his clients quickly and cost-effectively. Bob taught history at the State University of New York at Purchase and Legal Methods at Harvard University. He currently teaches insurance law at Rutgers Law School. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University and maintains a scholarly interest in insurance. He is co-author of the seminal article Patterns of Judicial Interpretation of Insurance Coverage for Hazardous Waste Site Liability, 18 Rutgers L.J. 9 (1986), which has been cited by numerous courts, including seven state supreme courts and the Second Circuit, along with dozens of other articles on insurance issues. He is co-author of Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property and Cyber Insurance Claims, published by Thomas West, and is former coeditor in chief of the Environmental Claims Journal. Bob is also co-editor of Coverage, the ABA Insurance Journal. He has chaired seminars on the new cyber-policies and food insurance issues for the ABA and NJSBA, and is currently Chair of the Insurance Sub-Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association.
Nicholas M. Insua is a shareholder in the New Jersey office of Anderson Kill who focuses his practice on insurance recovery litigation and counseling. Nick also represents clients in business disputes outside the insurance coverage context. In his insurance recovery practice, Nick represents policyholder clients in catastrophic first-party property damage and business interruption claims. He is co-author of Business Income Insurance Disputes, and a leading treatise on business interruption and time-element insurance issues. In his liability coverage work, Nick represents companies and executives under D&O and E&O policies. Nick has represented clients under general liability insurance policies for all manner of underlying claims; as well as claims under employment practices liability policies, inland marine insurance policies, and fidelity and crime policies. He has also worked on reinsurance arbitrations, including domestic and foreign confidential arbitrations. In Nick’s commercial litigation practice, he has represented former business partners in disputes involving RICO and Lanham Act claims; a dispute between former corporate affiliates involving the interpretation of the former subsidiary’s distribution agreement; and disputes involving contractual and creditor rights. Nick’s experience includes all phases of litigation, including trials and appeals. He has successfully gone to verdict for his clients on both jury and non-jury trials, an increasing rarity in contemporary commercial ligation. He has appeared in state and federal courts throughout the country and has also represented numerous clients for insurance and commercial litigation matters in both state and federal appellate courts. Nick is a frequent author and lecturer, who has been cited in court decisions including Am. Nat. Prop. & Cas. Co. v. Wyatt, 400 S.W.3d 417 (Mo. Ct. app. 2013); NGM Ins. Co. v. Carolina’s Power Wash & Painting, LLC, 2010 WL 146482 (D.S.C. Jan. 12, 2010); and In re Idleaire Tech. Corp., 2009 WL 413117 (Bankr. D. Del. Feb. 18, 2009). He has been a an Adjunct Professor at Seton Hall University School of Law, where he taught Commercial Law Survey, and a guest lecturer on Environmental Insurance Law at Rutgers School of Law – Camden. He is a former Chair of the Insurance Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association, and currently Co-Chair of its Newsletter. Prior to rejoining Anderson Kill in 2019, Nick took a leadership role in pro bono practice at a major law firm. In his own pro bono practice, Nick has represented clients seeking asylum and other forms of relief from deportation, including in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. After Superstorm Sandy, he worked with Volunteer Lawyers for Justice and other organizations to bring insurance coverage support to those in need. He drafted a manual focused on insurance coverage issues that was distributed to victims of the storm, and a second manual designed for lawyers assisting those victims. He also worked on and supervised nearly a dozen pro bono insurance coverage matters related to Sandy. In addition, Nick has handled impact pro bono litigation including teaming with the ACLU of New Jersey to overturn city ordinances that criminalized seeking food or monetary assistance. As a result of that litigation, the ordinances were eliminated and a donation was made to a local organization supplying meals and other services to the homeless. Nick is currently the Chair of the Pro Bono Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association.
Katherine Tammaro has nearly 25 years of experience representing insurance companies in complex coverage matters throughout the country, including professional liability; specialty lines, including media-specific policies; D&O and EPLI; environmental; advertising; personal injury; product liability, including asbestos and chemical exposures; and construction defect cases. She also handles numerous claims of bad faith and improper claims handling.
Kate has authored numerous articles on insurance coverage topics, including analysis of the pollution exclusions; allocation of defense and indemnity costs; advertising and personal injury claims handling practices; additional insured and contractual indemnification issues; targeted tender and occurrence concerns; discovery and technology topics such as discovery of electronic data and privilege in general and in bad faith cases; professional liability policies, including claims made, coverage for mold under liability and property policies; construction defects under liability and property policies, including OCIPs; and homeowners and auto claims issues. She has spoken at numerous ACI, PLRB, DRI and Mealey’s conferences throughout the country on these topics.