Andrea Cortland focuses her practice on third-party insurance coverage litigation. Andrea has substantial experience defending large-scale coverage litigation pertaining to concussion-related injury cases, pollution cases, and Chinese drywall cases. She also has significant experience with mass toxic tort cases, large-scale property losses, and construction defect cases.
Andrea has been involved in litigation involving multi-million dollar coverage disputes related to primary and excess liability policies, as well as primary and excess property policies. She has analyzed and provided opinions to insurance company clients on a wide variety of insurance coverage issues involving occurrence issues, loss allocation, trigger, policy formation, coverage grants, loss exclusions, claim valuation, claim handling and bad faith. She also has experience in commercial and civil litigation.
Andrea was on secondment with a large insurance company from May 2015 to September 2015, during which time she was responsible for reporting to executive leadership regarding significant claims; identifying and investigating potential issues associated with claims, including complex coverage issues; and strategizing with in-house counsel and claims handlers regarding claims issues.
Andrea frequently writes articles and speaks at insurance industry events and in-house client seminars on a variety of liability and property insurance topics, including: bad faith and property insurance, concussion-related injury litigation and coverage issues, Chinese drywall, social media, cyber losses and cyber insurance, and more.
Andrea earned her undergraduate degree, highest honors, from the Rutgers College Honors Program of Rutgers University. Andrea earned her law degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law. Andrea is a member of the New Jersey State, Pennsylvania, and American Bar Associations.
Publications
April 01, 2017
Joe Ziemianski and Andrea Cortland, of Cozen O'Connor's Global Insurance department, co-authored an article for FDCC Insights titled, "Ultimate Game-Changer? Concussion-Related Injuries and Litigation."
July 01, 2015
Joseph Ziemianski, Andrea Cortland, and other industry professionals, co-wrote this article in The Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel Quarterly which discusses litigation related to concussions in sports.
May 13, 2014
In a victory for insurers, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently rejected an insured's discovery request for reserve information in a first-party bad faith action. In its April 29, 2014 decision in Mirarchi v. Seneca Speciality Insurance Company, --- Fed.Appx. ---, 2014...
March 27, 2014
Facebook. Instagram. YouTube. Twitter. LinkedIn. SnapChat. Flickr. Google+. Tumblr. WeChat. MySpace. WhatsApp. Reddit. The list of social media and networking sites goes on and on. It’s fairly common knowledge these days that a defendant can use social media and networking sites such...
March 17, 2014
Congress has officially placed the bipartisan Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act in hands of President Obama. If enacted, it will undo significant provisions of a 2012 law that caused sharp flood insurance rate increases.
On March 4, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 306-91 to...
February 19, 2014
In answer to a question certified by the Second Circuit, New York Court of Appeals has held that a two-year suit limitation provision in a property insurance policy – which the court acknowledged was not an “inherently unreasonable” provision – was unenforceable under the factual circumstances of...
January 07, 2014
As Kermit the Frog famously said: “It’s not easy being green.” When it comes to property insurance, Kermit is only partially correct. Although green buildings and commercial construction projects pose unique risks that are likely not covered by traditional commercial property policies, the...
October 08, 2013
The Property Adjuster’s Toolbox is a three-part webinar series presented by members of the firm’s Global Insurance Department. The presentations discuss the nuts and bolts of investigating and adjusting a claim under a first-party property insurance policy.
July 19, 2013
On July 10, 2013, a majority of a three-judge panel of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania cut a new path for insureds and insurers with respect to defense under reservations of rights. See The Babcock & Wilcox Company, et al. v. American Nuclear Insurers, et al., 2013 PA Super. 174, 2013 PA Super. LEXIS 1630. According to the majority, when an insurer tenders a defense subject to a reservation, an insured may reject the insurer’s defense and bind the insurer to a settlement that the insurer did not consent, so long as the settlement is fair and reasonable.
May 06, 2013
Regulators, food distributors and, of course, lawyers are scrambling to determine the legal and reputational consequences of the still-growing horse meat scandal that recently hit Europe.
April 26, 2013
On Feb. 15, 2013, a Pennsylvania federal district court held that the shipment of defective drywall from China to the United States constituted one “occurrence” for purposes of insurance coverage, and the occurrence took place when the damage caused by the drywall manifested itself in the residences or buildings of the underlying plaintiffs.
March 20, 2013
In a recent unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has five years from the date when an alleged fraud begins – not from the date when the SEC uncovers the fraud – to bring an action seeking penalties. It is likely this decision will have a large-scale impact, including an impact on D&O insurers, by spurring the SEC to complete its investigations and bring enforcement actions sooner rather than later.
March 05, 2013
On February 15, 2013 a Pennsylvania federal district court held that the shipment of defective drywall from China to the United States constituted one “occurrence” for purposes of insurance coverage, and the occurrence took place when the damage caused by the drywall manifested itself in the residences or buildings of the underlying plaintiffs. With this ruling, Pennsylvania joins Virginia as one of the few states to opine regarding the number of occurrences in the Chinese drywall context.
November 08, 2012
Virginia Supreme Court Ends Chinese Drywall Debate - Global Insurance Alert - We are pleased to report that the Virginia Supreme Court has tacked down – or, more appropriately, "drywall-ed in" – the issue of whether a pollution exclusion in a property insurance policy precludes coverage for Chinese drywall claims under Virginia law.
September 13, 2012
Petersen v. Columbia Casualty Company: A Case Study in the Differences Between the Duty to Advance and the Duty to Defend - Global Insurance Alert - On August 21, 2012, in Petersen v. Columbia Casualty Company, et al., No. SACV-12-00183, U.S. District Judge James V. Selna held that a professional liability insurance policy, which provided that the insurer had a duty to advance defense expenses, should not be interpreted under the standards that govern policies containing the broader “duty to defend.”
June 27, 2012
The Potential Implications of the JOBS Act on D&O Coverage - Global Insurance Alert - On April 5, 2012, President Obama signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, better known as the JOBS Act. The JOBS Act is intended to help smaller and new companies raise capital, and, to accomplish this goal, institutes fundamental changes to existing securities laws in the areas of fundraising and emerging growth companies (EGCs).
March 13, 2012
When It Comes to Data Breaches: Show Me The Injury - Global Insurance Alert! - Two recent decisions, one by Oregon's highest court and the other by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, reveal a growing trend finding legitimacy in claims asserted by plaintiffs whose personal information has been stolen or compromised only if such information is actually used by a third-party to cause harm or perpetuate identity theft
December 05, 2011
Professional Liability: Keep Your Friends Close, But Your Facebook Posts Closer - Insurance Coverage Alert! - “Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life.” That is the Facebook mantra, as displayed on its homepage, and the opening line of a recent – and extremely thorough – Pennsylvania trial court decision regarding the discoverability of a plaintiff’s relevant Facebook information. The court’s conclusion: a plaintiff’s Facebook information is discoverable, provided the defendant has a good faith basis for seeking the material,
September 07, 2011
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals Corrects the District of New Jersey's Mistake Regarding the Doctrine of Mutual Mistake - Insurance Coverage Alert! - On Aug. 3, 2011, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Illinois National Insurance Company v. Wyndham Worldwide Operations, Inc., No. 10-3833, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 15894, reversed a decision of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and held, in a case of first impression, that New Jersey law allows reformation on the basis of mutual mistake even against a party that did not participate in the negotiation of the contract.
September 01, 2011
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals Pulls the Plug on Medical Monitoring Class Actions - Insurance Coverage Alert! - On August 25, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit entered judgment in Gates v. Rohm & Haas Co., et al., No. Civ. A. 10-2108, --- F.3d ---, 2011 WL 3715817, which, for all intents and purposes, signifies an end in the jurisdiction for bringing a medical monitoring suit as a class action.
August 22, 2011
Professional Liability: The Yaron Decision and Its Impact on Insurers - Insurance Coverage Alert! - On July 5, 2011, the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas published its decision in Yaron, et al. v. Darwin National Insurance Company, et al., No. 502, a declaratory judgment coverage action brought by two policyholders against their professional liability insurers. The court, in an opinion authored by Judge Arnold L. New, granted summary judgment in favor of the insurers, holding that they were not obligated to pay the policyholders’ defense costs in connection with an underlying action.
February 17, 2011
Construction Defect: New Jersey Appellate Division Leaves the Door Open for Continuous Trigger in Construction Defect Cases - Insurance Coverage Alert! - Over the past decade, courts across the country have delivered countless number of decisions on the scope of liability coverage for underlying construction defect claims. Most of these decisions focus on whether claims of faulty workmanship constitute an occurrence, and if so, whether the business risk exclusions apply to preclude coverage. Just as important, but often overlooked, is the issue of trigger.