J. Russell Stedman

Russell Stedman is an insurance and reinsurance partner based in our San Francisco office. With an AV® Peer Review Rating by Martindale-Hubbell, and more than 24 years of litigation experience, Mr. Stedman focuses on the client’s goals in each individual assignment, tailoring the firm’s services as needed. He has developed long-term relationships with many companies by learning and applying his extensive knowledge of insurance law to the client’s business philosophy and procedures.

Mr. Stedman is a member of the Firm’s Development Committee and served as Managing Partner of the San Francisco office from 2002-2007.

Examples of Mr. Stedman’s insurance and reinsurance experience include:

• Insurance company related investment disputes, for example investment advisor and investment manager disputes, management of insurance company portfolio, including asset allocation, suitability, guidelines and permissible investments, self-dealing, related party transactions and mismanagement of specific assets, enforcement of due on sale clauses in real estate investments.
• Large property and business interruption loss claims, for example oil refinery accidents and earthquake damage to a major Port.
• Liability coverage under multiple-layer excess program for toxic cloud dispersal.  Liability coverage for mass torts, including primary and excess, exhaustion, aggregate limits, contribution.
• Reinsurance disputes and arbitrations, including traditional, financial, captive, fronting and pooling, and MGA.  Drafting of agreements, including reinsurance and assumption agreements.
• Life and disability, including traditional claims disputes, ERISA and other issues such as agent misconduct, elder abuse, tax loss, suitability, twisting and FINRA arbitrations for sales of registered products, selling away, including Ponzi scheme exposure.
• Class action defense, for example a suit filed against life insurer for failure to pay death benefits on policies issued between 1895-1915 to persons allegedly killed in the Turkish-Armenian conflict.
• Unfair business practices claims, including sales, claims adjusting, reserve and experience modifier practices, non-renewal and group health insurance discriminatory rating.
• Insolvency law, including representation of insurers or reinsurers in California, Bermuda, Texas, Illinois, Florida and Mississippi.

Non-insurance experience includes partnership dissolution disputes, closely held business freeze-out and taking of business opportunity, drug testing by employer, ERISA investment manager breach of fiduciary duty and employee overtime class action.