NLdH's Institutional Practice focuses solely on the defense of insurers and protection of their business practices. Our experienced lawyers handle matters throughout the United States, defending class actions, extra-contractual cases, corporate contingencies, consumer protection suits, defamation matters and multiple other theories involving the pursuit of punitive damages and injunctive relief.

Our attorneys act as national coordinating counsel in multi-jurisdictional litigation and parallel class actions and litigation, while also providing counsel and advice to insurers in regulatory and financial matters regarding business practices and programs, including claims handling, underwriting, pricing, rates, adjustment and actuarial science, plus matters involving market conduct and enforcement. Additionally, NLdH attorneys have backgrounds in automotive repair, manufacturing, construction, insurance claims and insurance underwriting as well as in the insurance regulatory community, giving our firm a legitimate advantage in understanding the various issues that are facing the insurance industry.

NLdH attorneys are currently representing clients in complex, high exposure institutional coverage and bad faith litigation. These matters include:

• The first case involving insurance coverage for global warming/climate change litigation before the Virginia Supreme Court
• Two class action lawsuits involving issues of first impression under the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law, one of which is pending in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
• Claims involving insurance coverage for costs associated with the HVP national recall

In jurisdictions across the country, NLdH represents a wide variety of insurance clients from the domestic and London Market when bad faith is alleged in first- and third-party claims. In addition to vigorously defending insurers engaged in active litigation, our attorneys offer consultation on adjustment and coverage issues before a suit is filed in order to reduce or eliminate bad faith exposure.

Insurance Regulation & Counseling

The members of NLdH's Regulatory & Consulting team have more than 35 years of combined experience as senior insurance regulators. Our attorneys have been deeply involved with policy and legislative issues, market conduct, corporate transactions, licensing, product filings, enforcement matters, and many key NAIC initiatives. As a result, our team knows regulators, their concerns and how they think.

Our regulatory team has experience with all lines of insurance. Our services include:

• Compliance risk assessment services
• Consulting services on emerging regulatory and legislative issues
• Sales and marketing compliance advice, including the Internet and social media
• Distribution channel compliance advice, including risk purchasing groups, MGAs, producers, brokers and direct channels
• Evaluation and development of compliance procedures, programs, and controls
• Assistance in developing new products and obtaining regulatory approvals
• Internal compliance audits
• Guidance during investigations and market conduct exams
• Due diligence reviews of insurance operations
• Shepherding corporate transactions through the regulatory process
• Preparing and reviewing contracts and guidelines for distribution channels
• Representation in regulatory investigations, examinations and inquiries

Consulting / Internal Investigations Audits and Reviews

Our lawyers routinely handle both internal corporate and regulatory investigations. We conduct internal investigations, reviews, and audits on behalf of claims departments, the Office of General Counsel, special committees, and boards of directors. These reviews address current or proposed business practices, fiduciary duties, threatened, or pending litigation, and/or deal with government or department of insurance investigations, requests for information, or subpoenas. We also regularly counsel management on a wide range of issues relating to the "business of insurance."

Industry Association Support and Counsel

Our Leadership

NLdH's lawyers proudly serve in various positions of leadership and counsel to insurance industry organizations and associations, with our lawyers serving in board-level or general counsel positions to the FDCC, IADC, ABA, LCJ, and IASIU. Our lawyers also maintain committee-level and leadership positions within the DRI, CLM, IADC, PAMIC, PDI and AICP, while also serving on the Insurance Law Advisory Board for Strafford Publications and the Council on Litigation Management's (CLM) National Committee as well as co-chairing the CLM's Insurance Fraud Committee.

NLdH's attorneys have also been active in federal class action reform efforts, which culminated in amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the passage of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005. NLdH lawyers testified in Washington about the shortcomings of modern day class action law. We conferred with members of Congress and staff members of the House Judiciary Committee about class action reform legislation. We also worked with pro-business organizations such as the  U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Lawyers for Civil Justice and the Washington Legal Foundation on these initiatives.

Representative Matters

Some specific results we have achieved in favor of insurers in class actions or institutional matters include:

•  Harleysville Mut. Ins. Co. v. Buzz Off Insect Shield, LLC - Insurer prevailed before the North Carolina Supreme Court in a multi-million dollar insurance coverage and bad faith suit as the court held that the insurer owed no duty to defend and indemnify the insured in federal litigation involving claims for trademark infringement, false advertising, and unfair competition.
• Siméus Foods Int'l, Inc. v. Dornoch, Ltd. - United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed extra-contractual claims asserted under Texas law against Dornoch Limited for and on behalf of a London syndicate in a dispute involving product contamination claims.
• Adams v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. - Class certification was denied in a Texas action in which the plaintiff sought to certify a class of all Texas automobile insurance policyholders who were not paid for structural measurements during frame repairs. The defense verdict at the trial followed as the plaintiff amended their complaint seeking a statewide injunction.
• Gilchrist v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. - Putative antitrust class action in Northern District of Florida involved four named insurance companies and "unnamed co-conspirators" identified as automobile insurance companies that are members of the Certified Automotive Parts Association. Putative class included more than 70 million policyholders and claimed in excess of $20 billion in damages. The 11th Circuit dismissed appeal and remanded with instructions to dismiss based on the insurance antitrust exemption in the McCarran-Ferguson Act.
• Goodfriend v. Safe Auto Ins. Co. - Tennessee trial court dismissed a class action suit alleging that the Tennessee Financial Responsibility Law required coverage for all vehicle occupants.
• White v. Safe Auto Ins. Co. - A South Carolina class action charged that the carrier's surcharges for lapsed policy reinstatements were not rate approved. The plaintiff withdrew in the face of defenses involving the filed rate doctrine, the doctrine of primary jurisdiction, and failure to exhaust administrative remedies.
• Banks v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co. - The Court of Appeals of Ohio upheld dismissal of the plaintiffs' complaint, in part, recognizing that Nationwide had the right to provide non-OEM parts in meeting its obligation to repair.
• Burrill v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. - Obtained dismissal of Nationwide in class action involving the North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance, North Carolina Rate Bureau, and Nationwide, where the plaintiffs' alleged insurers' state-approved determinations of fault were unconstitutional and violated the Unfair & Deceptive Trade Practices Act in North Carolina.
• McMahan v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. - Tennessee class action for diminished value dismissed on motion.
• Fullen v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co. - Florida class action for first-party diminished value dismissed.
• Nunley v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. - Class action seeking third-party diminished value and damages for alleged violations of Unfair Trade Practices Act dismissed after removal to District Court.
• Morrison v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co. - A class action involving first-party diminished value claims against Florida insurance carriers. The putative class consisted of all Floridians holding policies with one or more of the defendants that provided motor vehicle physical damage coverage. The U.S. District Court granted the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the motion.
• Johnson v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co. - A Florida class sought damages for use of aftermarket parts and included injunctive and equitable relief. The case was dismissed following the filing of a Motion for Summary Judgment.
• Schweitzer v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co. - Aftermarket parts class action dismissed following the filing of Motion for Summary Judgment.
• Whitworth v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. - An Ohio class sought national certification over 10 years, attacking total loss valuations involving the CCC valuation product. The case settled on a national basis after lengthy and spirited negotiations with both class counsel and CCC. NLdH represented Nationwide and all of its affiliates throughout the entirety of the litigation, including the negotiations and the subsequent fairness hearings, in which objectors from four states had their objections adjudicated and the court addressed the extraterritoriality of the settlement.
• Doug White v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. - A Mississippi case in which plaintiff body shops alleged unlawful "steering" practices, unfair trade practices, restraint of trade, and tortiously interference. NLdH's motion to dismiss insurer was granted and later affirmed on appeal.
• Koresdoski v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. - Tennessee diminished value and bad faith case dismissed on summary judgment.
• Taylor v. Prudential Property & Casualty Co. - NLdH served as liaison counsel for 28 insurers (representing four of the insurers) in a Pennsylvania property class action involving the allegation of improper withholding of depreciation in building claims. The case involved an aggregate in excess of $1 billion in indemnity exposure. NLdH secured a court-approved and complete dismissal of all causes of action against 18 of the carriers, including all four of NLdH's clients: Penn Millers, Shelby Vesta, Nationwide, and National Grange.
• J. Margulis, Inc. v. John Robert Clare Syndicate - A Philadelphia class action against a London syndicate that was dismissed on motion, prior to certification, where the plaintiff sought payments of withheld depreciation on commercial insurance contracts.
• Campbell v. Insurance Placement Facility of PA - NLdH successfully defended the Pennsylvania Fair Plan in a coverage action related to fraud in the presentation of a claim and allegations of bad faith. The court's decision was upheld after appeal to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Thought Leaders

NLdH's lawyers are recognized for their knowledge about emerging issues impacting the insurance industry. Our attorneys regularly speak and write about critical issues in an ongoing effort to keep these topics at the forefront of our clients' minds. Senior members of the firm authored Extra-Contractual Litigation Against Insurers and Climate of Uncertainty: A Balanced Look at Global Warming and Renewable Energy, books addressing important matters within the insurance industry. In addition, our attorneys write articles on a range of insurance issues, including top trends and key strategies in insurance law, reducing liability for insurers in disaster coverage events, bad-faith litigation, and class action matters for industry and professional publications such as For the Defense, Claims Magazine, and FDCC Quarterly.

NLdH regularly publishes newsletters focused on the particular concerns of our clients. "Up to Speed" is a newsletter dedicated to keeping carriers informed about the latest news surrounding the collision industry as well as legislative and regulatory actions impacting automobile insurance. Each quarter, we publish "The Regulatory Current," which provides insight on legislative and regulatory issues affecting the industry.