John Failla

John Edward Failla is a partner in the Insurance Recovery & Counseling Group. With more than twenty years of experience focusing on insurance recovery for business policyholders, John has the practical and legal experience to assist clients in managing business risks and solving business problems.

John has helped clients recover more than a billion dollars from their insurers through litigation, alternative dispute resolution or negotiation in some of the most significant insurance matters involving a wide range of issues, including:

• directors and officers’ liability, securities, and corporate governance matters, such as the AT&T coverage litigation
• mutual fund market timing and sales practices claims
• losses related to the global economic crisis, such as auction rate securities and  the Madoff fraud
• environmental, toxic tort, and products liability, such as the Exxon Valdez insurance litigation
• property and business interruption claims arising from the September 11 terrorist attacks

Although he has handled claims under nearly every type of policy and against every major insurer, John has particular experience handling financial institution insurance matters. He regularly represents banks, securities broker-dealers, underwriters, asset management firms, mutual fund complexes, private equity firms, venture capital groups and hedge funds, as well as corporate officers and directors and securities issuers.

John has pursued claims on behalf of a number of financial institutions under directors and officers’ and errors and omissions policies, as well as fidelity bonds, commercial crime policies and electronic and computer crime policies.

In addition to policyholder advocacy, John also advises and counsels clients on risk management and underwriting issues, including drafting and negotiating insurance policy language, insurance audits and historical program reconstruction, and structuring commercial and captive insurance programs.

John regularly advises members of corporate boards and corporate officers on emerging liability risks and ways to improve their insurance coverage.

He assists clients with insurance and indemnification issues in connection with corporate transactions by performing insurance due diligence, potential exposure and insurance recovery valuation and modeling, preparing risk transfer, insurance and indemnity provisions in stock and asset purchase and sale agreements, and advising clients regarding insurance transfer and succession issues.

John has negotiated special insurance programs and drafted insurance policies intended to cover unique and emerging risks, such as specialty environmental policies and transaction-specific programs.

John regularly advises insurance risk managers on all aspects of insurance risk management, including annual insurance program and policy wording reviews, program structure, captives, specialty insurance coverages, analysis of emerging risks, and indemnification provisions.

In addition, John is a frequent speaker and writer on insurance coverage issues. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Insurance Law 360 and is leading a panel at the Risk Insurance Management Society (RIMS) Annual Conference called “E&O Insurance: Your Best Friend In The Economic Crisis.”

Education :

• New York University School of Law, J.D., 1988
• St. John’s University, B.A., 1985

Admissions & Qualifications : New York

Court Admissions :

• U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
• U.S. District Court, New York, Eastern District
• U.S. District Court, New York, Southern District
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit

Memberships :

• American Bar Association (Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee, Tort and Insurance Practice Section)
• Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS)
• Professional Liability Underwriters Society (PLUS)