Leading Lawyer – Industry Focus: Insurance: Advice to Policyholders
The Legal 500 US 2022
Profile
Brook Roberts is the former Managing Partner of the firm’s San Diego office. He previously served as a Global Co-Chair of the Insurance Counseling & Recovery Practice. Mr. Roberts advises clients on complex insurance coverage and bad faith disputes, involving a wide range of environmental, property, casualty, investment, and professional liability matters.
Mr. Roberts has represented a host of Fortune 500 companies in a variety of complex business litigation matters in federal and state courts, and before domestic and international arbitration panels.
He has extensive experience securing coverage for policyholders under virtually every type of insurance available, including:
Business interruption claims
Comprehensive general liability
Directors and officers (D&O) liability
Errors & omissions coverage
Environmental impairment liability
Intellectual property and theft
Builders risk
Property and casualty policies
Political risk
Prior to joining Latham & Watkins, Mr. Roberts served as law clerk to Judge Barry G. Silverman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Experience
Mr. Roberts’ recent cases include representing:
GE in the successful resolution of a US$100 million bad faith and coverage litigation for environmental losses sustained by its subsidiary, United Nuclear Corporation
Montrose Chemical Corporation in a US$200 million environmental coverage lawsuit. He led the Montrose team before the California Supreme Court in one of the most high-profile insurance coverage disputes in the nation, winning a unanimous victory from in Montrose Chem. Corp. v. Super. Ct. (2020), a landmark win establishing policyholders’ right to “electively stack” multiple years of excess policies to insure against continuous loss claims
Fluor Corporation and its affiliates in various litigations to secure insurance coverage and prosecute bad faith actions against various carriers for failing to defend and indemnify:
US$220 million recovery for asbestos liabilities after obtaining a precedent-setting victory in the California Supreme Court (Fluor Corp. v. Super. Ct. (2015))
US$290 million recovery for professional liability claims arising from the nickel/cobalt facility in Western Australia
US$310 million pending bad faith case arising from the carrier’s failure to settle bodily injury claims against Fluor
Thought Leadership
Co-author, “California Supreme Court Defines Scope of Advertising Injury Coverage,” FC&S Legal: The Insurance Coverage Law Information Center, 2014
Co-author, “Continental: policyholders entitled to full limits on all triggered policies,” Daily Journal, 2012
Qualifications
Bar Qualification
California
Texas
Education
JD, University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law, 2000 summa cum laude
BA, Arizona State University, 1993 Finance, summa cum laude
Latham’s success leading the joint defense effort that secured the complete dismissal, with prejudice, of all claims against our client BMW and several other German automakers in the so-called “Circle of Five” emissions conspiracy litigation was chosen among the Top Defense Verdicts of 2020.
Recognized for the firm's successes in high-profile and complicated insurance cases.
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