Coverage & Monitoring
- OUR EXPERIENCE -
ONE OF THE LEADING COVERAGE AND MONITORING FIRMS IN AUSTRALIA
We are one of the leading coverage and monitoring firms in Australia.
We are regularly retained by local and offshore insurers and reinsurers (including London market insurers, and insurers based in the USA and Bermuda) to advise on complex and high-value coverage matters across many lines of business, including Financial Lines.
We also advise on the response of Australian-written insurance policies to major claims within Australia and in foreign jurisdictions, including claims in the USA, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, South Africa, and elsewhere.
Technically challenging and complex
On many of the coverage and monitoring matters in which we have acted, we and our insurer clients often lead the insurance market in its response to technically challenging and complex claims and coverage outcomes. We are both a market leader and a market influencer in this area of insurance and legal practice in Australia.
We have advised on many of the most prominent class action claims in Australia, on major financial institution remediation programs (regulator driven or otherwise), significant claims against insureds brought by regulators, and major litigated claims in the Federal Court of Australia and in State Supreme Courts across Australia.
We understand the issues
We understand that the claims handling service provided by our insurer clients is the true test of the insurance product they issue to their insureds. We understand the imperative for an early determination of coverage, preferably in a non-adversarial manner. We pride ourselves on our ability to work with insureds, brokers and defence counsel in a co-operative way, both prior to and after a coverage grant has been issued.
When coverage impediments arise, we seek to preserve and advance the rights of our insurer clients in the most effective manner, and in a manner which also seeks to preserve relationships between stakeholders.
Examples of our work
Our recent involvement in major D&O claims on behalf of insurers includes:
Advising and acting for various excess layer professional indemnity insurers of the CBA, in relation to the coverage claim arising from the Bank’s Open Advice Review Program, being a publicly launched review and remediation program for customers adversely affected by alleged deficient financial planning advice provided by CBA’s financial planning businesses
Advising and acting for various Reinsurers of NAB and its captive insurer, Nautilus Pte Ltd, in relation to a major remediation program undertaken by NAB in the UK concerning interest rate hedging products, alleged to have been mis-sold to UK borrowers in the wake of the global financial crisis
Advising and acting for the primary layer professional indemnity insurers of CBA in relation to the CBA’s coverage claim arising from the recent civil penalties claim against the Bank for contravention of the Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth). This claim was brought against CBA by the regulator, AUSTRAC, for some 56,000 admitted contraventions of the Act. The claim was the subject of the largest ever civil penalties judgment in Australian legal history, when Yates J in the Federal Court in July 2018 imposed on CBA a civil penalty of $700 million
Advising and acting for the fifth excess D&O insurers in the Dick Smith class action claim arising from the collapse of Dick Smith in 2016
Advising and acting for insurers in connection with the ‘Get Your Super Back Class Action’, claims made against Colonial and Avanteos as superannuation trustees in respect of the provision of cash or fixed interest investment products to superannuation fund members at less than market rates
Advising and acting for insurers in connection with the ‘ADA Class Action’, claims made against Colonial as superannuation trustee in respect of the alleged delay in the transfer of Accrued Default Amounts of Group Members’ superannuation into MySuper products
Advising and acting for insurers in connection with the ‘Grandfathered Commissions Claim’, claims against Colonial in respect of the alleged charging of fees to Group Members’ superannuation accounts in order to continue to pay trailing commissions to financial advisers in contravention of FOFA reforms
Advising and acting for insurers in connection with the ‘Mallia Class Action’, claims against Colonial in respect of the alleged arrangement for FirstChoice Fund members to be provided with life and income protection insurance at excessive premiums
Advising and acting for insurers in connection with the ‘Count Financial Class Action’, claims against Count Financial arising from the receipt of commissions and bonuses paid to Count Financial authorised representatives in contravention of FOFA reforms
Advising and acting for insurers in connection with the class action against Commonwealth Financial Planning Ltd, Financial Wisdom Limited and CommInsure in respect of the sale of life insurance products by CommInsure at substantially higher premiums than life insurance products offered by competitors
Advising and acting for the primary layer D&O/entity securities insurer in the UGL securities class action claim arising from UGL’s November 2014 announcement of the need to review the financial performance of its involvement in the Ichthys Project in the Northern Territory
Advising and acting for the first and second excess layer insurers in the Worley Parsons class action claim, which involved allegations of breach of continuous disclosure obligations/ misleading or deceptive conduct by Worley Parsons concerning its anticipated FY2014 profit
Advising and acting for the primary layer D&O/entity securities insurer in the Sirtex securities class action claim, which involved allegations Sirtex misled the market in 2016 concerning the actual and anticipated sales in FY2017 of its cancer treatment product and by allegedly failing to disclose insider trading of shares in Sirtex by its former CEO
Advising and acting for various insurers in the CBA securities class action claim arising from the AML/CTF civil penalties claim brought against CBA by AUSTRAC (which civil penalties claim resulted in a penalty of $700 million imposed on CBA by Yates J in July 2018)
Advising and acting for insurers in the Woolworths Securities Class Action claim arising from a downgrade announcement made by Woolworths in February 2015 regarding anticipated FY2015 profit, and an investor strategy meeting held by Woolworths in May 2015 on the same topic
Acting for excess Side A D&O insurers of RCR Tomlinson Limited in respect of Class Actions brought following delays and cost overruns on solar farm projects, capital raising and subsequent appointment of administrators
Acting for excess layer insurers of CIMIC Group Limited in indemnity proceedings concerning claimed losses arising from the disclosure and investigation of allegations of corrupt business practices and the resolution of subsequent Class Action proceedings
Advising and acting for Chubb as primary insurer in the Surfstitch Securities Class Action claim in connection with significant earnings downgrades in 2016, which settled in 2021 for a publicly disclosed amount of approximately $6.5 million
Advising and acting for the second excess D&O insurers in the Vocation Securities Class Action claim, which involved allegations of breaches of continuous disclosure obligations/misleading or deceptive conduct and settled in 2021 for a publicly disclosed amount of approximately $50 million
Advising and acting for an excess layer D&O/entity Securities insurer in the Billabong Securities Class Action claim arising from earnings downgrade announcements in 2011, which settled in July 2016 for a publicly disclosed amount of approximately $45 million
Advising and acting for various insurers in the Leightons Securities Class Action claim arising from its $1.1 billion write-down in April 2011, which settled in May 2014 for a publicly disclosed amount of approximately $70 million
Advising and acting for insurers in the USA Class Action Claim of Dennis, Sonterra Capital at al against JP Morgan Chase & Co, et al in the US District Court, District of New York, against a variety of banks (including CBA, Westpac, NAB, ANZ and Macquarie bank), for alleged manipulation by those banks of the BBSW (Bank Bill Swap Rate)
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