Nick J. DiGiovanni leads Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell's reinsurance group, which includes more than 45 lawyers nationally. He has more than 20 years of experience concentrating in reinsurance and insurance-related issues. His practice and experience involve national and international reinsurance disputes in litigation, arbitration, insolvency and rehabilitation proceedings. His clients include many of the world’s major insurance and reinsurance companies in their roles as ceding companies, reinsurers, and retrocessionaires.
Insurance/Reinsurance Litigation
Mr. DiGiovanni has dealt with a wide range of issues and subject matters, including disputes involving treaties, facultative certificates, MGA agreements, reinsurance pools, syndicates, mutual companies, cut-through endorsements, commutations, and other forms of reinsurance relationships. The issues involved in these disputes include claims for fraud, rescission, scope of coverage, treaty interpretation, and scope of arbitration clauses.
His experience includes numerous arbitrations under the Federal Arbitration Act, a number of different state arbitration acts, and Bermuda and English arbitration law. He has litigated some of the largest reinsurance disputes in recent history, including representation of:
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A major health care insurer in a $300 million dispute in Texas regarding the sale of two HMOs. The issues included valuation of reserves and the application of actuarial and accounting principles as they relate to the health care industry. He negotiated a settlement for the client;
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The London market in connection with disputes involving a captive insurance company and over $1.5 billion in environmental and health hazard claims. The case was litigated in the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, Northern District of New York, the Supreme Court of Bermuda and House of Lords in London;
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A large international reinsurer in collecting $45 million of amounts due under a quota share treaty reinsuring Argentinean Pension Fund business; and
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A major U.S. reinsurance company with respect to claims of rescission on $40 million of retrocessional coverage relating to a small group medical quota share treaty.
In addition, Mr. DiGiovanni has been a consultant on a project that drafted proposed model arbitration clauses, and he is actively involved in the AIDA Reinsurance and Insurance Arbitration Society. He also has significant experience in litigation and arbitrations involving insurer and reinsurer insolvencies.
Mr. DiGiovanni has participated in a host of seminars, lectured on reinsurance dispute resolutions, presented a mock reinsurance arbitration before the American Bar Association Annual Meeting, and prepared a paper on the United Nations Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards and on various topical issues in the area of reinsurance law. He also was profiled in Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers (2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005) and the Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Business Lawyers in both the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 editions. He was acknowledged in The Legal 500 United States-2008 Edition for his accomplishments in the reinsurance practice.
Mr. DiGiovanni has written and spoken frequently on reinsurance matters, including presentations at the annual meeting of the ABA, Tort & Insurance Practice Section; Mealey’s Reinsurance Roundtable Conferences; and presentation of papers including “Statutory Setting for Reinsurance Arbitration”, “Reinsurance Arbitration: A Reality Check”, and “Reinsurance Disputes in the 90’s and Beyond.” He and the Firm are charter members in AIDA Reinsurance and Insurance Arbitration Society.
Education
- J.D., cum laude, University of Notre Dame, 1980
- B.B.A., cum laude, Southern Methodist University, 1977
Bar Admissions
Admitted To Practice
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 1980
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 1987
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 1987
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1987
Professional History
Partner in the law firm of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP
Professional Affiliations
Acknowledged in The Legal 500 United States-2008 Edition
for his accomplishments in the Reinsurance Practice
Listed in Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Insurance
and Reinsurance Lawyers (2002-2005)
Listed in Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Business
Member, Chicago Bar Association
Member, American Bar Association
Board of Directors, Coordinated Advice & Referral Program
Member, AIDA Reinsurance & Insurance Arbitration