Insurance Coverage Appeals: Avoiding Recurring Errors When Going From Trial Court to Appellate Court

This CLE webinar will offer insurer and policyholder counsel a detailed analysis of the issues related to appealing insurance coverage decisions, starting with the decision to appeal and offering practical tips on briefing and oral argument. The program will offer useful practice pointers on the difference between trial and appellate briefing and oral presentations, how to simplify facts and policy terms, what appellate judges think about, selecting the best authority, working with amici, certification, interlocutory appeal, and more.

For both insurers and policyholders, insurance coverage appeals raise substantive, procedural, and strategic concerns not encountered in other types of appeals. Deciding whether to appeal emerging or precedent-setting issues that can have far-ranging effects requires a well-thought-out strategy. Sometimes counsel may need to seek certification to state court and in some cases it may be appropriate to seek interlocutory appeal.

Lawyers appealing coverage issues need to thoroughly understand policy provisions and industry standards on substantive issues like the duty to defend or to pay defense costs, burdens of proof, bad faith, and indemnification, and on procedural issues such as jurisdiction, arbitration, choice of law, and forum selection clauses.

The biggest mistake counsel can make whether briefing or arguing the appeal is to overlook the difference between how trial and appellate courts approach the case. Moreover, few judges are insurance coverage experts, making simplicity and clarity critical.

Listen as this panel of insurance appeals experts offers practical guidance on all stages of coverage appeals.