Lara Cassidy

Lara Degenhart Cassidy is Special Counsel with the firm's insurance coverage practice, where she helps individuals, groups, and companies tackle their most challenging insurance problems. Lara represents businesses and individuals in insurance-recovery negotiation, arbitration, and litigation over coverage for complex, high-value, multi-disciplinary commercial disputes and regulatory investigations. Her clients include well-known companies in the energy, chemical, retail, technology, manufacturing, construction, financial services, political law, and entertainment industries. Representative matters have included pursuing coverage for bet-the-company securities fraud litigation and regulatory investigations, media defamation claims arising out of politically charged social media posts, and wrongful death attributed to fouled groundwater. She is a creative problem-solver offering practical, strategic and business-oriented legal advice to her clients.

Lara has significant experience in pursuing insurance coverage for companies and their individual directors, officers, and managers under Directors & Officers (D&O) or Management Liability insurance policies. She has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of her clients, including investigation, defense, response, and settlement costs for class-action securities litigations, shareholder derivative suits, formal and informal regulatory and administrative proceedings, and internal corporate investigations. She also has extensive experience with commercial general liability, property, employment practices liability, cyber liability and media liability policies, under which she has pursued coverage for a wide array of environmental claims, product liability suits, business interruption claims, wrongful termination suits, data breaches, defamation claims, and misleading advertising.

Lara has negotiated multiple insurance settlements under which the insurance companies fund the settlement of underlying claims, and pay her client’s investigation and defense costs in full. She also has negotiated cost-sharing agreements under which the insurer pays less than its full limits, when the immediacy of that approach appears in her client’s best interest.

From the outset of a claim that may implicate insurance coverage, Lara confers with her client’s defense counsel, its insurance brokers, and its often multiple insurance companies to develop and implement a cohesive defense and case-resolution strategy. This collaborative approach offers her clients and their insurance companies tangible insights into on-going cases, and permits insurance decisions to be made in an informed, efficient, timely and cost-effective manner.

When a negotiated resolution is not possible, Lara pursues coverage for her clients through mediation, arbitration, or litigation. She has extensive trial experience in both state and federal court, in domestic and international arbitrations, and in mediation. She notably led the appellate briefing in a groundbreaking Second Circuit decision on D&O insurance coverage issues, resulting in full coverage for her financial-services client.

Experience

Secured D&O insurer-funded settlement and full defense coverage for a shareholder class action litigation alleging that a large energy company failed to disclose operational information that affected its share values during a merger.
Negotiated full policy limits funding by a D&O tower of the settlement of significant shareholder liability claims against a major coal producing company alleging that corporate mismanagement led to tragic loss of life and undervalued the company in a subsequent merger.
Recovered the costs that a leading oil field services company incurred to assess, mitigate and resolve regulatory proceedings, private securities litigation, shareholder derivative claims, and internal and external corporate investigations arising from the company’s restatement of its earnings.
Coordinated a defense cost-sharing agreement among multiple D&O and media liability insurers to fund the joint defense of high-profile political organizations against allegedly defamatory social media posts.
Negotiated favorable settlement under fiduciary liability policies for the costs that an investment company incurred to defend and settle a series of arbitrations brought by disgruntled investors alleging that their broker converted investment funds for personal use.
Represented a major coal company and its subsidiaries in a complex series of mediations, litigations, arbitrations, and administrative actions to recover insurance proceeds under fifty years of general liability insurance policies for thousands of bodily injury and property damage claims from both solvent and insolvent insurers.
Recovered costs that a leading financial services company incurred to defend and resolve regulatory investigations and follow-on private litigation through motions and appellate practice. Drafted trial court and appellate briefing that led to groundbreaking Second Circuit decision compelling coverage for informal regulatory investigations, including subpoenas, internal corporate investigations, and other regulatory response costs.
Arranged favorable coverage-in-place agreement under D&O policies to fund the costs a major chemical company incurred to investigate, defend and settle class-action litigation and shareholder derivative suits after the company resolved a criminal price-fixing claim.
Investigated claims for a banking insurance consortium to determine whether the group owed its member defense or indemnification under a D&O policy for a series of shareholder class-action lawsuits alleging securities fraud and other malfeasance arising out of a high-visibility bank merger.
Represented a major manufacturing client and subsidiary seeking insurance coverage for nationwide class-action product-liability claims under general liability policies. Directed the team of attorneys addressing the key factual and legal issues in written and deposition discovery.
Pursued insurance coverage for a not-for-profit high-tech incubator under its management liability policy, and ultimately defeated “bet the company” intellectual property claims arising out of the development and licensing of MEMS technology. Coordinated the efforts of attorneys and other professionals at four law firms in three states to implement the defense strategy.
Obtained favorable settlements on the eve of trial for a large chemical company in an action against more than 35 insurance companies for environmental damages at manufacturing and disposal facilities nationwide.
Developed pro-policyholder standard for proving insurance coverage under lost insurance policies through appellate practice in Indiana state appellate courts, and settled with multiple insurers based on the ruling.

Affiliations

Professional

Co-Chair, American Bar Association, ADR Subcommittee of the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee
Associate Editor, Tort Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) Law Journal, American Bar Association.