Next week, I am traveling to sunny Tucson for the American Bar Association’s 2024 Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee (ICLC) Seminar.  Held at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, this conference always promises to be rich in cutting-edge and informative content through plenary, breakout and roundtable programing while also offering plenty of time for enjoying the outdoors and networking with old (and new) friends.

KCIC is proud to again be the Event Sponsor for this annual event.  I will be joined by my colleagues, Elizabeth Hanke, Diana Kantner and Nick Sochurek.  All four of us are honored to have the opportunity to participate in one of the conference programs. 

I am participating in a roundtable discussion along with Gerald “Jay” Konkel of Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP.  Our discussion is cleverly titled “Whose Liability Is It Anyway?”.  Jay and I will enjoy lunch with our table while discussing issues around co-insurers or co-defendants suddenly announcing their insolvency and potentially dramatically increasing liability for other parties involved. For example, what if the now insolvent company once assumed liabilities from a larger company years before and that company still exists and has deep pockets. In this and alternative circumstances, when can an insolvent’s predecessors, successors, or others be brought to the table?

Diana Kantner will be joined by Margo Brownell of Maslon, LLP for a roundtable discussing defense cost management and data collection in mass tort litigation.  The lunch group will explore proactive strategies for managing defense costs effectively, with a focus on transparent data collection to facilitate discussions between policyholders and insurers. The discussion will cover topics such as the management of fixed fee arrangements and shadow billings, proficient handling of general billing codes, and strategies for the efficient collection and sharing of defense costs.

On Friday, Elizabeth Hanke will be a panelist in a breakout session titled “Using Insurance Assets to Resolve Mass Tort Claims in Bankruptcy: Key Issues Facing Debtors, Insurers, and Claimants.” She will be joined by moderator, Adrian Azer of Haynes and Boone LLP, and co-panelists, Ed Parks of Ruggeri Parks Weinberg LLP and Kim Posin of Latham & Watkins LLP. Their presentation will include discussion around the use of trusts to compensate victims, the valuation of liabilities and legacy insurance assets, the use of adversary proceedings to resolve insurance issues, and recent Chapter 11 cases including use of the “Texas Two-Step.”

Nick Sochurek will also participate in a breakout session on Friday along with Matthew Anderson of Mendes & Mount LLP, Alexis Dyschkant of Covington & Burling LLP and Brian Tauscher of Marsh. Their program will cover the top 5 coverage issues for PFAS Claims.  While PFAS is similar in many ways to other historic long tail claims, it also— importantly—presents novel coverage issues. The panelists will reflect on lessons learned from the first few years of PFAS coverage litigation and opine on where the big coverage fights will be moving forward.

The conference takes place next week, March 6^th-9^th.  We look forward to seeing you in Tucson! You can view the entire conference schedule here.