Insurance Coverage


The insurance contract to transfer risk frequently requires serious, even adversarial, interpretation. After a loss has occurred, that interpretation may require a declaratory judgment suit, or the insurance coverage questions, if any, may be carried along with the litigation arising directly from the loss itself. Either way, the insurance disputes may accompany the casualty loss to mediation, creating an additional layer of dispute for resolution. Alternatively, an insurance coverage dispute may be ripe for mediation if the parties are willing to weigh the risk of losing the dispute against the cost of a possible loss, where cost includes both the contractual coverage and the expense of obtaining an adversarial and non-compromised resolution.