Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog

Hunton partner, Syed Ahmad , was quoted yesterday in a Law360 feature discussing how corporate policyholders can maximize their D&O insurance coverage. As Ahmad explains, "[g]iven the ever-changing regulatory landscape, directors and officers are getting involved in matters earlier and earlier and in a wider range of situations than before.” As a consequence, directors and officers should be looking for insurance that affords the broadest possible protection against the most diverse range of claims that the company is likely to face. One way to achieve this is use of a broad definition of “claim.” As Ahmad explains, "[t]he definition of 'claim' should cover as many of these potential scenarios as possible.” Another strategy is to narrow the scope of potentially applicable exclusions. In this instance, Ahmad explains in the context of the often-applied “insured v. insured” exclusion, policyholders should “[s]eek to carve out from the exclusion employment claims, bankruptcy proceedings and whistleblower claims,” as these claims do not suggest the sort of collusiveness that the exclusion was originally intended to dissuade.