Farella’s Insurance Recovery Group has been recovering money for clients and protecting their assets for more than 40 years. Our clients include private and public technology companies of all sizes and in all sectors, real estate development and construction industry businesses, venture capital and private equity firms, energy and mining companies, consumer product manufacturers and distributors, public entities and non-profits, as well as executives and high-net worth individuals.  As one of the first California-based law firms to establish a stand-alone recovery practice, today the firm works exclusively with policyholders to maximize the value of their insurance, resolve coverage disputes, establish risk management strategies, structure insurance programs, and draft policy language that safeguards their interests.

Our team takes a practical, business-minded approach to using insurance to achieve business and strategic objectives. We understand how insurance companies make decisions, assess risks, and quantify damages and exploit the legal leverage points in claims and policies to protect our clients.

Effective Claims Advocacy and Recovery

Clients rely on Farella’s insurance recovery attorneys to navigate the claims process. We help clients set realistic and achievable expectations that are responsive to their business and strategic objectives. We evaluate potential insurance claims and pursue them by strategically notifying insurers to maximize the chances of a positive response, manage the flow of information from defense counsel and the insureds to insurers with any eye to coverage issues and the insurers’ needs, advocate coverage positions, and negotiate settlements. We adjust our approach to the needs of the particular claim, whether through negotiation, mediation, arbitration, or litigation.

We’re particularly adept at finding and exercising rights to coverage for a wide variety of first-party and third-party exposures, including:

  • Securities fraud and other corporate directors’ and officers’ liabilities
  • Technology  errors and omissions claims
  • Data security breaches and other cyber liability risks
  • Products liability
  • Professional liability
  • Intellectual property disputes
  • Environmental liabilities
  • Employment litigation
  • Construction delay and defects claims
  • Property losses and business interruption
  • Disasters like earthquakes, fires and floods

Insurance disputes are stressful events for businesses and individuals alike. They can be uncertain, slow (because of insurance companies’ internal processes and strategies), and time-consuming. We believe that open, honest, and frequent communication is the most effective tool for reducing the stress of claims and disputes. Throughout the claim process, we provide regular and comprehensive updates to our clients and seek consistent feedback to remain fully informed, so that we can adapt our methods and tactics as client interests evolve.

Consulting and Analysis

We use our claims experience and close, long-term relationships with our clients to better understand—and help them meet—their insurance needs and objectives before claims arise. Our understanding of our clients’ businesses and the risks that arise from them helps us analyze current and proposed policies and negotiate policy wording that addresses our clients’ unique concerns. We advise our clients on, and work with their insurance brokers, to negotiate favorable policy wording in virtually all commercial insurance lines, including directors’ & officers’ (D&O) liability, technology errors & omissions (E&O) liability, cyber, and comprehensive general liability policies (CGL). We also work with captive insurers, pooled risk transfer programs and other risk management devices in drafting policy language and addressing claims.

Creative Billing and Fee Arrangements

Managing cost, particularly that of legal services, is often as a critical to achieving the best possible outcome for our clients as is the dollar value of a recovery or the timing of a resolution. We embrace lean staffing to avoid inefficiencies and overlap, while at the same time draw on the collective experience of our insurance recovery lawyers when needed.

In addition, to helping our clients predict and control costs as we pursue their claims, we offer a variety of alternative billing solutions in addition to hourly rates, including solutions involving one or more of the following alternatives:

  • Flat fee and “not to exceed” budgets
  • Reduced hourly rates or flat fee plus success bonus
  • Full contingency
  • Mixed contingency (reduced hourly rates plus percentage of recovery)
  • Monthly retainers
  • Phased “risk collars”

Read our award-winning blog – The Policyholder Perspective – www.farellacoveragelaw.com

Firm Highlights

News

Farella Braun + Martel Earns 2024 Best Law Firms® Rankings

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Publication

Regulatory Changes Underway To Address Dwindling California Property Insurance Market

We keep hearing about how difficult it is for our clients to get property insurance these days, both for homes and businesses in Northern California’s wildfire-prone areas. Which, of course, is most of Northern...

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Event

Legal and Insurance Issues Raised by Artificial Intelligence

Tyler Gerking is a speaker at the Bar Association of San Francisco's CLE program "Legal and Insurance Issues Raised by Artificial Intelligence." Session Overview:  2023 saw the adoption and use of AI products skyrocket resulting in increased...

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Publication

When Can an Insurer Pursue a Malpractice Claim Against Defense Counsel Retained for an Insured? (Part Two)

By Jalen M. Brown, Kristin Davis, Shanti Eagle, Peter J. Georgiton, and J. Mark Hart Part 1 of our two-part article addressed the circumstances in which an insurer can directly pursue malpractice claims against...

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Publication

BIPA Liability: Existing CGL Coverage May Provide a Lifeline for Policyholders

Developments in the law have increased the potential liability that companies could face under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), but fortunately for policyholders, Illinois case law has also solidified coverage for BIPA...

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Publication

When Can an Insurer Pursue a Malpractice Claim Against Defense Counsel Retained for an Insured? (Part One)

By Jalen M. Brown, Kristin Davis, Shanti Eagle, PeterJ. Georgiton, and John Mark Hart When an insurer accepts an insured’s tender and agrees to provide a defense, it is often an afterthought as to whether...

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Publication

Reporting Dispute Claims Within Closely Held Wineries

Many wineries operate as closely held companies, meaning they’re owned by an individual or small group of shareholders, who are often members of the same family. Disputes regarding ownership interests can arise, particularly when directors...

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Publication

Disputes Between Shareholders May Not Be Governed by Fiduciary Duties but Could Be Covered by Insurance

(As published in Private Company Director ) Disputes regarding ownership interests often arise in the context of closely held corporations, particularly when directors, officers, or majority shareholders sell or acquire ownership interests in the...

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News

Who’s Who Legal 2023 Recognizes Farella Lawyers

Six Farella Braun + Martel lawyers have been recommended by Who’s Who Legal 2023 as leading practitioners in their fields. Who’s Who Legal – Environment 2023 James Colopy Robert Hines David Lazerwitz Chris Locke...

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