Contingent & Litigation Risk Insurance
Contingent & Litigation Risk Insurance
VALE provides complex risk solutions for identified contingent legal risks, including adverse judgment risks, appeal risks, adverse costs and other costs related risks, and portfolio risks, for various participants exposed to the risks of litigation or arbitration. VALE underwrites actual or potential disputes in jurisdictions worldwide, including the US, UK, Europe, and international arbitration forums, among others.
In this developing space, VALE takes a wide view of the market and provides a suite of contingent and litigation risk products:
Adverse Judgment Insurance
The product covers an actual or potential defendant in respect of an identified legal exposure. This may include liability risks, contractual disputes, title risks, fraudulent conveyance, permit risks, intellectual property risks, among other things. The exposure may have been identified as part of due diligence in a transaction or in seeking to wind up a fund or for some other reason.
Judgment Preservation Insurance
The product covers a claimant which has been successful at first instance against the loss of a judgment or award on appeal. Often the appeal may turn on alleged errors of law by the first instance court or tribunal, but appeals can also extend to alleged misapplication of the facts, irregularities in applying procedural rules and issues of jurisdiction and quantum.
ATE insurance
The product covers a party to litigation in a costs shifting jurisdiction from the risk of becoming liable for the other side’s costs. The risk of adverse costs may also arise where the parties have agreed by contract or by virtue of adopting certain arbitral rules of procedure that the loser in any dispute between them will be liable for the other party’s costs. ATE may also include cover for the insured’s own costs and disbursements in pursuing the dispute.
Portfolio Solutions
The product covers funds, law firms and corporates for exposures in litigation across a portfolio of cases. These are particularly complex products and provide risk transfer as well as more capital efficient structures for insureds.
Key Contacts:
Bryce Guingrich
Prior to joining VALE, Bryce practiced law in New York, litigating commercial matters and insurance coverage disputes for multiple coverage areas, including representations and warranties, directors & officers, fidelity and commercial crime bonds, and professional liability.
Before law school, Bryce worked as a broker of directors and officers coverage, employment and professional liability, corporate property insurance, and other miscellaneous lines in the U.S., London and European markets. He started his career as a civil engineer in Florida.
Bryce graduated with a B.S (Engineering) from Purdue University. He also received a J.D. from Rutgers University and an Intellectual Property LL.M. (Master of Laws) from Georgetown University.
Chief Underwriting Officer
Bryce Guingrich
Prior to joining VALE, Bryce practiced law in New York,...
Nathan Hull
Nathan Hull is a Director and Head of Contingent and Litigation Risks. Nathan joined VALE Europe from a position as Vice President, Assistant General Counsel, with Allied World, a Fairfax Company (London), where he specialized in providing advice and analysis in respect of various lines of business and insurance products (including transactional risk products like W&I, Tax, Contingent Risks and ATE). Prior to joining Allied World in 2014, Nathan was a senior associate with Edwards Wildman Palmer (now Locke Lord), a firm for which he worked for nine years, where he acted in high value, complex, insurance and reinsurance disputes, including litigation and international arbitration. Nathan has degrees in law (LLB) and international relations (MA) from the University of Manchester and has been admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales since 2007.
Director, Head of Contingent and Litigation Risk Europe
Nathan Hull
Nathan Hull is a Director and Head of Contingent and...
Dominic Spinelli
Dom was previously Head of Contingent Legal Risk Insurance at Liberty GTS where he helped build out Liberty’s contingent liability practice in the US. Dom is a former litigator, having litigated a wide range of complex commercial and insurance coverage disputes across the country. In addition to his litigation experience, Dom has represented insurers outside of the courtroom with respect to hundreds of complex insurance claims, including analyzing potential exposures presented by a number of high-profile litigation risks. Dom received a BA from Providence College and his JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law. Dom is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois, and the Southern and Eastern District Courts of New York.
Head of Contingent & Litigation Risk North America
Dominic Spinelli
Dom was previously Head of Contingent Legal Risk Insurance at...