Nick J. DiGiovanni leads Locke Lord’s reinsurance and insurance litigation groups, which include more than 40 lawyers nationally and internationally. He has more than 30 years of experience in commercial litigation, concentrating in reinsurance and insurance-related issues.
His practice and experience involve national and international reinsurance disputes across all lines of business in litigation, arbitration, insolvency and rehabilitation proceedings. His clients include many of the world’s major insurance and reinsurance companies in their roles as ceding companies, reinsurers, and retrocessionaires.
As a litigator and trial attorney, Nick has significant experience in defending insurers and reinsurers in class actions and individual actions brought pursuant to a variety of state and federal consumer protection statutes and regulations.
His experience includes jury and non-jury cases in the areas of professional malpractice, E&O, breach of representation and warranty, and disputes involving M&A and stock and asset purchase agreements in state and federal district courts across the nation. He is a member of the Firm’s TCPA and Class Action Litigation group.
Nick has participated in a host of seminars, lectured on numerous topics related to reinsurance disputes, presented a mock reinsurance arbitration before the American Bar Association Annual Meeting, and has written and lectured on numerous topics including arbitration, trial practice, trial ethics and insurance and reinsurance coverage issues.
Nick has been a consultant on many industry-wide projects including the drafting of proposed model arbitration clauses. He is actively involved in the AIDA Reinsurance and Insurance Arbitration Society.
Representative Experience :
Insurance/Reinsurance Litigation
Nick DiGiovanni has dealt with a wide range of issues and subject matters, including disputes involving treaties, facultative certificates, MGA agreements, reinsurance pools, syndicates, mutual companies, captive insurers, cut-through endorsements, commutations, and other forms of reinsurance relationships.
He has handled disputes in both the life reinsurance and property and casualty reinsurance and direct insurance markets. Nick has notable skills in insurance and reinsurance disputes including directors and officers liability, OFAC economic sanctions, life insurance insolvency actions, Anti-Terrorism Act, catastrophe bond, energy claims, professional liability, bad faith actions, cyber security issues, and regulatory challenges under most state insurance laws.
The issues involved in these disputes include claims for fraud, rescission, scope of coverage, treaty interpretation, and scope of arbitration clauses. Nick also has tried and arbitrated cases involving accountants malpractice, fraud, stock and asset purchase agreements and breach of fiduciary duties.
His experience includes numerous arbitrations under the Federal Arbitration Act, a number of different state arbitration acts, and Bermuda and English arbitration law. He has litigated some of the largest and most important reinsurance disputes in recent history, including:
- Representing a major health care insurer in collecting damages in a $300 million dispute in Texas regarding the sale of two HMOs. The issues included valuation of reserves and the application of actuarial and accounting principles as they relate to the health care industry.
- Defending the London market in connection with disputes involving a captive insurance company and over $1.5 billion in environmental and health hazard claims. The case was litigated in the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, Northern District of New York, the Supreme Court of Bermuda and House of Lords in London.
- Representing a life reinsurance company in a case of first impression regarding YRT Treaty Rate increases.
- Representing a large international reinsurer in collecting $45 million of amounts due under a quota share treaty reinsuring Argentinean Pension Fund business.
- Prosecuting a case for a major U.S. reinsurance company with respect to claims of rescission on $40 million of retrocessional coverage relating to a small group medical quota share treaty.
- Defending a major U.S. life reinsurer in a $30 million dispute regarding contract interpretation of recapture provisions.
- Representing an international property and casualty reinsurer concerning large catastrophe losses associated with Hurricane Katrina.
Professional Affiliations :
- Member, Chicago Bar Association
- Member, American Bar Association
- Board of Directors, Coordinated Advice & Referral Program
- Member, AIDA Reinsurance & Insurance Arbitration
Education :
- J.D., cum laude, University of Notre Dame, 1980
- B.B.A., cum laude, Southern Methodist University, 1977
Admissions : Illinois, 1980
Admitted To Practice :
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 1980
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2006
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 1987
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 1987
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1987
Cost
Rate : $$$
