Big Law Litigation Results and Work Product; Boutique Professional Customer Service

San Francisco, California

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Alan Palmer Jacobus is an experienced trial lawyer and litigator. He has tried and litigated complex commercial and insurance matters over the past two decades.  In insurance coverage matters, Mr. Jacobus draws on extensive non-insurance trial and litigation experience.  He uses his broad litigation background to bring new, innovative, and successful strategies, tactics, and approaches, both in general commercial litigation matters and insurance coverage and bad faith matters.

 Mr. Jacobus is also an authority on significant insurance coverage issues and general litigation techniques and procedures. He frequently writes and speaks on insurance and litigation topics. His published work has been cited as authoritative.

Representative Experience

Alan Palmer Jacobus has successfully litigated high-profile, high risk commercial and insurance coverage disputes.  Representative matters include:

  • Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co. v. The Am. Ins. Co., No. 98-000530 (Maricopa County, Arizona).  Favorable settlement of coverage dispute over mining environmental liabilities.

  • Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co. v. Thorpe Insulation Co., Wellington Agreement Arbitration. Arbitration win for insurer in dispute over so-called “non-products” coverage for asbestos liabilities.  SeeIn re Thorpe Insulation Co., 671 F.3d 1011, 1014 (9th Cir. 2012).

  • In re J.T. Thorpe Co., No. 02-41487-H5-11 (United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas).  Favorable settlement after extensive litigation in Texas state and federal courts (including bankruptcy court) of coverage dispute over so-called “non-products” coverage for asbestos liabilities.

  • Union Carbide Corp. v. Affiliated FM Ins. Co., 16 N.Y.3d 419, 947 N.E.2d 111, 922 N.Y.S.2d 220 (2011); Union Carbide Corp. v. Affiliated FM Ins. Co., 101 A.D.3d 434, 955 N.Y.S.2d 572 (2012).  Favorable settlement after litigation of multi-year policy and expected / intended issues of coverage claim over products / completed operations hazard claims for asbestos liabilities.

  • Pac. Coast Drilling Co. v. Farmers New World Life Ins. Co., 2016 WL 6678928 (Cal. App. Nov. 14, 2016).  Summary judgment, affirmed on appeal, in favor of insurer on claims under life insurance policies.

  • LaBarre v. Occidental Chem. Corp., No. 33796 (23d Judicial District, Parish of Assumption, Louisiana 2017).  Summary judgment in favor of insurer in direct action claim on liability / homeowner’s policy for damages allegedly arising from sinkhole near Bayou Corne, Louisiana.

  • First Nat’l Bank in Manitowoc v. The Cincinnati Ins. Co., 321 F. Supp. 2d 988 (E.D. Wis. 2004).  Summary judgment in favor of insurer on banker’s blanket bond on cancelation notice issues.

Trials

Mr. Jacobus has tried to verdict or judgment jury and non-jury trials in a variety of jurisdictions, including California, Illinois, and Louisiana. Mr. Jacobus has tried cases in both federal and state courts.

Representative Publications 

Mr. Jacobus frequently writes concerning significant insurance coverage subjects and other, non-insurance topics.  At least one court has cited Mr. Jacobus’s published work as authoritative.  See The Ins. Co. of the State of Pennsylvania v. County of San Bernardino, 2017 WL 2903259 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 8, 2017).  Representative publications include:

  • Co-author with Eric J. Knapp, “Insurance and Class Actions:  How the United States Supreme Court’s 2011 Dukes, Concepción and Smith Decisions Will Change the Way Insurance Class Actions Are Litigated,” Mealey’s Litigation Report: Class Actions and inMealey’s: Emerging Insurance Disputes (May 2012)

  • “Recent Developments in Litigation Over the Non-Cumulation Condition,” Coverage(ABA 2012), cited as authoritative in The Ins. Co. of the State of Pennsylvania v. County of San Bernardino, 2017 WL 2903259 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 8, 2017)

  • Co-author with Kevin Glasgow, “Stranger Owned or Originated Life Insurance Policies:  Problems and Solutions,” Westlaw Journal—Insurance Coverage (July 2011)

  • Co-author with Robert Binion, “Something Stricker This Way Comes: Dealing with the Medicare Secondary Payer Statute (And What Stricker Doesn’t Say),” Bloomberg Law Reports, Health Law Reporter, Vol. 3, No. 12 (December 2010)

  • “A ‘New’ Defense to Stacking:  The Non-Cumulation Clause,” Insurance Law Section, Defense Research Institute’s In-House Defense Quarterly,(Winter 2008)

  • “Black Lung Bonds,” Defense Research Institute’sFor the Defense (September 2004)

  • “Analyzing Liability Insurance in Terms of Mold Coverage,” Columns (September and October 2002)

  • “Analysis of the ‘Pay When Paid Defense’ After Brown & Kerr v. St. Paul and Marine,” published in IADC Newsletter, Fidelity and Surety Committee (July 1999)

Representative Speaking Engagements

 Mr. Jacobus is an authority on commercial litigation and insurance coverage issues, and speaks frequently on topics of import.  He proudly serves as a member of Strafford Publications Insurance Law Advisory Board. Representative presentations include:

  • “The Insurer's Duty to Indemnify:  What Does the Policy Actually Cover, and How Do You Prove It?” Bar Association San Francisco (June 11, 2018) (speaking on insurer defenses).

  • “Insurer’s Duty to Defend: Navigating Flexibility in the ‘Eight Corners’ Rule, Withdrawal from an Ongoing Defense and More,” Strafford Publications webinar (August 2017)

  • “Attorney-Client Privilege in Bad Faith Litigation,” Strafford Publications webinar (August 2017)

  • “Depositions in Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith Insurance Litigation,” Strafford Publications webinar (February 2017)

  • “Discovery in Bad Faith Insurance Litigation,” Strafford Publications webinar (August 2016)

  • “Insurance Declaratory Judgment Actions and the Federal Abstention Doctrine,” Strafford Publications webinar (April 2016)

  • “Depositions in Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith Insurance Litigation,” Strafford Publications webinar (February 2016)

  • “Attorney-Client Privilege in Bad Faith Litigation:  Pushing the Limits,” Strafford Publications webinar (October 2015)

  • “Discovery in Bad Faith Insurance Litigation,” Strafford Publications webinar (June 2015)

  • “30(b)(6) Depositions,” Strafford Publications webinar (March 2015)

  • “Attorney-Client Privilege in Bad Faith Litigation:  Pushing the Limits,” Strafford Publications webinar (March 2014)

  • “Attorney-Client Privilege in Bad Faith Insurance Litigation: Asserting or Defending Against Implied Waiver of the Privilege,” Strafford Publications webinar (March 2013)

  • “The Bodily Injury Concept in Liability Policies Revisited, 30 Years On,” Tucson ABA ICLC Seminar (February 2013)

  • “Discovery in Bad Faith Insurance Litigation:  Best Practices for Proving or Defending Claims,” Strafford Publications webinar (September 2012)

  • “How Much is that Policy Worth, Anyway?” ABA Section of Litigation, 2012 Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee CLE Seminar (March 2012)

  • “Top Legal Developments:  What You Need to Know to Keep Current,” Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) Conference (May 2011)

  • “Representing Insurers When Discoverability of Confidential Settlement Agreements Is at Issue,” paper presented at DRI’s Insurance Coverage and Claims Institute (March 2011)

  • “Discoverability of Confidential Settlement Agreements in Insurance Coverage Disputes,” ABA Section of Litigation Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee CLE Seminar (March 2011)

  • “Ethics Sessions: Can You Keep a Secret? Maybe Not:  Exceptions to Traditional Attorney-Client Privilege and Work Product Protections in Insurance Coverage Disputes,” paper presented at Mealey’s Bad Faith Litigation Conference (September 2006)

  • “Pig in a Poke?  How Acquiring Companies Can Unwittingly Become Responsible for the Liabilities of Companies They Acquire,” Gas Technology Institute Natural Gas & LP Odorization Conference (July 2006)

  • “Key Concepts in General Liability Insurance Coverage for Construction Defects” presentation (October 2005)

  • “Odor Fade and the Legal Duty to Warn,” paper presented at Gas Technology Institute’s Natural Gas & LP Odorization Conference (July 2005)

  • “Contractual Liability Risk Transfer:  Issues and Concerns Arising from Indemnity and Hold-Harmless Agreements,” paper presented at Gas Technology Institute’s Natural Gas & LP Odorization Conference (August 2004)

  • “A Modern Analysis Under California Law of Punitive Damages Available for an Insurer’s ‘Bad Faith’” (June 2004)

  • “Limiting a Paying Liability Insurer’s Total Loss Under California Law Through Policy Limits, Deductibles, Self-Insured Retentions, Allocation, Apportionment, Contribution, and Subrogation” (January 2004)

  • “Strategies for Insurers Resisting the Prepackage Asbestos Bankruptcy Blitzkrieg,” paper presented at FETTI Conference (October 2003) “Common Pitfalls in the Assertion of the Sistership Exclusion as a Bar to Coverage Under Commercial General Liability Policies,” paper presented at ABA Insurance Coverage and Internet Litigation Committees Mid-Year Meeting (March 2002)

Professional Memberships

  • State Bar of California

  • Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (the Illinois state attorney licensing commission)

  • Louisiana State Bar Association

  • Bar Association of San Francisco (Chair and member Executive Committee Insurance Practice Section)

Representative Community Involvement

  • Participant in Louisiana State Bar Association’s Professionalism Panel for incoming law students at Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, Louisiana (August 2017 and 2018)

  •  Volunteer with the AIDS Legal Referral Panel (ALRP) in San Francisco, California

  • Volunteer with the USDC Northern District of California Federal Pro Bono Project

Contact:

Alan Palmer Jacobus, Esq.
981 Mission Street
San Francisco, California 94103
Telephone: 347.463.5190
Email: alan@apj-esq.com
Website: apj-esq.com