Insurance litigation has been a focus for Vetter & White since the firm opened in 1981. Through the years, we have represented insurance companies directly, in first-party claims and other contexts. Our lawyers have worked on insurance cases from the commonplace to the esoteric and have in-depth experience in areas including: property and casualty; life, health and disability; professional liability; and a variety of products liability, commercial and marine.

We work closely with insurance clients’ in-house counsel, claims specialists, and underwriters to help accomplish a company’s goals with maximum efficiency.

Claims and Premium Fraud
While representing insurers, Vetter & White has developed extensive experience in investigating and proving claims and premium fraud. On behalf of insurers, we have successfully worked with law enforcement officials in the pursuit of criminal convictions, fines and deportations.

Third-Party Defense
Vetter & White attorneys have also represented numerous and diverse insureds. Some insurers send us a volume of cases, while others turn to us on particularly sensitive or complex matters.

• For Underwriters at Lloyd’s, we proved that one of their insured’s lessees had staged a multi-million dollar gold theft to cover up for gold it had siphoned from a protected vault years before. We also proved that the insured’s broker had intentionally misrepresented the insured’s loss history when it obtained the policy. The jury ruled in favor of the underwriters, compelling the return of $2 million to Lloyd’s.
• Our lawyers, representing a professional liability client, recovered over and above their pro rata expenses when they sought apportioned reimbursement of defense and settlement costs from a C.G.L. insurer.
• We represented another C.G.L. insurer who was sued by a shipbuilder under a direct action statute, and obtained a summary judgment vindicating the insurer of denying coverage for loss to a competitive racing yacht.
• We represented a national life insurer sued for broker’s “policy churning” in a case involving complex ERISA and state law issues.
  Insurers have relied on us for coverage opinions on a wide variety of issues.
• When a homeowner’s insurer denied coverage for a leaking underground residential fuel tank, we convinced the insureds to withdraw their claim.
• A credit union official was accused of fraud and RICO violations in connection with the sale of company property, and we negotiated a favorable settlement.
• We secured a favorable settlement for a group of civil engineers sued for alleged negligence in planning and administering a large municipal construction contract.
• We obtained another defense verdict for a restaurant owner sued by a man who claimed a window broke and shattered on his head.
• We negotiated a nuisance settlement in a case in which a passenger who had requested a direct flight due to a heart condition suffered a heart attack while changing planes.