America Service Group Inc. v. Zurich American Insurance Company, No. 310-cv-00616 (M.D. Tenn. 2010)
Represented policyholder, America Service Group Inc., in this dispute regarding whether a prior acts exclusion applied to a claim under an excess D&O policy. Case successfully resolved in mediation.
Coker v. Nationwide Life Ins. Co., et al.
Working with the Alabama State Personnel Board, a Bradley litigation team represented a class of over 23,500 State of Alabama employees participating in a deferred compensation retirement plan on claims of breach of fiduciary duty, wantonness, and breach of contract against the state employees union and Nationwide Life Insurance Company entities. The state employees union chose Nationwide as the exclusive provider of plan services and negotiated with Nationwide as to Nationwide’s profits, which were taken from plan participants’ retirement savings, yet at the same time the union negotiated secret payments to itself from Nationwide. Over nine years, Nationwide paid the union about $13,000,000. Bradley Arant Boult Cummings litigation attorneys discovered the secret payments when doing background research on another plan-related claim. This litigation involved avoiding securities law preemption and obtaining the cooperation of numerous state agencies and defendants who fought every possible discovery and merits issue. After several years of litigation, the case settled for over $18,900,000, which was approved by the court and paid in 2011.
Southern Foodservice Management, Inc. v. American Fidelity Assurance Co., 850 So. 2d 316 (Ala. 2002)
Successfully defended an order compelling arbitration of insurance claims.
Insurance, Banking and Tax
Secured judgment in a federal bench trial in favor of a tire manufacturer in a case brought by the U.S. government alleging underpayment of federal excise taxes
Secured jury verdict in favor of bank in lender liability case where guarantor claimed he was defrauded into guaranteeing a bank loan
Obtained judgment on behalf of a bank against parties who had attempted to defraud the bank in connection with a counterfeit cashier’s check scheme
Served as "severity counsel" for a large insurance company, providing advice for the handling of high-exposure matters and oversight for the work of counsel hired by the insurer to defend such cases
Served as counsel to large, multi-state insurance company with respect to agent issues in Tennessee
Defended insurance company in litigation with bank arising from a large flood loss sustained by a hotel (bank alleged that insurance company violated bank’s security interest due to distribution of insurance proceeds to the hotel owners)
Represented insurance company in coverage dispute with guitar manufacturer arising from major flood damage to manufacturing facility