Overview

Property owners are seeing an increase in policies offered by “surplus lines” or non-admitted insurance companies. These insurers are not licensed in Texas and often contract with a “managing general agent” to serve as their connection to the Texas market. Many of the world’s largest insurance companies (often located in New York, London, and other locations throughout the world) use this method to sell policies to Texas customers. Frequently, these policies will require the application of out-of-state laws and foreign venues, forcing the policyholder to arbitrate any dispute, which can make recovery of policy benefits more challenging.

$91 million+ recovered
1600% improvement

Results

We have achieved results suing both the insurance companies and managing general agents (MGAs) in these arrangements. We have recovered over $91 million for our clients. In those same cases, the insurance companies estimated damages at just $5.3 million, reflecting an over 1600% improvement over the insurers’ evaluation following our involvement. We have had particular success in handling cases involving insurance policies that refer to New York law and stipulate arbitration in New York.

As with all of our cases, we partnered with top-tier experts to accurately assess damage and establish causation. But much of our effort relates to the discovery process, where we have repeatedly uncovered critical internal documents that insurers attempted to conceal. In some cases, the internal documents reveal the insurance company’s intention to reduce payouts by forcing the case to New York or by avoiding a trial by jury. In others, the documents have revealed an intention to use confusing and misleading language to deceive policyholders. In yet others, we uncovered evidence that the insurers had secretly evaluated the damages at over 5000% higher than what they had offered during the claim process.

Surplus lines insurance companies rely on a murky arrangement that can make the claim process confusing and tedious. In many cases, this is not just a side effect of the arrangement but its intended purpose. Our experience with this market of insurers and MGAs has allowed us to cut through the confusion and obtain favorable results for numerous clients.

We have recovered tens of millions of dollars for Texas clients facing down foreign insurance companies operating through managing general agents who impose out-of-state law and arbitration panels on Texas businesses and schools.