Expertise
Our Insurance Disputes Practice is a market leader in dealing with the most significant and complex issues facing our clients and the insurance industry in Ireland. We advise on complex coverage disputes, drafting policy wordings, strategic issues and multi claimant litigation, large loss property damage claims, issues relating to emerging risks such as cyber, subrogation claims, and insurance regulatory litigation.
Matheson has been at the forefront of the most complex and significant coverage issues in Ireland. We are instructed on some of the most significant issues facing the insurance industry and have been involved in many of the landmark cases in this area in recent years.
Our strength and depth is demonstrated by the number of experienced litigators and coverage specialists who work on insurance disputes and coverage issues and our ability to draw on appropriate technical expertise from across the firm. A number of our lawyers have spent time in-house in the insurance industry. Our lawyers’ risk-management skills and deep sectoral experience also ensure our clients are properly advised in relation to any overlapping internal or regulatory investigation that may arise.
We continue to be one of the few large Irish law firms to have a dedicated Insurance Law Group, and provide a full service to our insurance client base. We provide a comprehensive and seamless service to our clients, and importantly in particular on strategic issues where there is a regulatory aspect.
Our Team
- April McClements
- Aisling Kavanagh
- Julie Murphy-O’Connor
- Karen Reynolds
- Angela Brennan
- Aishlinn Gannon
- Darren Maher
- Grainne Callanan
- Acting for four of six aircraft lessor plaintiffs in the Aircraft Litigation, relating to insurance coverage for aircraft detained in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, the largest litigation to come before the Irish courts.
- Acting for a pharmaceutical company in a high value coverage dispute with its D&O insurers, the first judgment of the Irish courts on aggregation in insurance contracts.
- Acting successfully for insurers in two of the test cases to come before the Irish Commercial Court (the only firm to act for insurers in more than one test case).
- Arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, advising various insurers on COVID-19 business interruption claims and related issues.
- Acting successfully for an insurer in two separate appeals of findings of the Financial Services & Pensions Ombudsman relating to insurance coverage disputes.
- Acting for an insurer in high profile and precedent setting subrogation claim in relation to flooding in Cork in 2009.
- Acting for a car manufacturer in its defence of various subrogation claims including two lead Commercial Court cases arising from a carpark fire.
- Representing a major domestic bank in insurance coverage proceedings challenging the declinature of a multi-million dollar claim under its fidelity insurance policy relating to losses arising from the fraudulent trading of an employee in a US subsidiary.
- Advising a number of insurance companies in relation to implementation of the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019.
- Advising a London market insurer on the wording for its Irish cyber policy.
- Advising an international tech company on the wording of various policies, including cyber, written by its captive insurer.
- As a result of developments in the UK following the Plevin decision and the FCA’s second redress scheme, advising a number of financial institutions in relation to their potential exposure and risks of a second redress scheme and multi-party litigation in Ireland.
- Advising a financial institution with regard to the strategy, defence and successful resolution of over 220 cases before the Irish Courts in relation to mis-selling claims in relation to payment protection insurance (PPI).
- Advising a major insurance broker in connection with a dawn raid by the European Commission in connection with alleged anti-competitive practices.
- Advising in relation to the extent of coverage under a D&O insurance policy for directors involved in investigations by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, the Data Protection Commissioner and High Court appointed Inspectors into the affairs of a large Irish corporate.
Insurance Dispute Resolution: Chambers Europe 2023
Insurance Dispute Resolution: Chambers Europe 2023