First up among our runners-up this week are John Phillips and Brett Ingerman of DLA Piper, who we featured in yesterday’s column. Last week they wrapped up a trial defending an affiliate of insurer Allianz from claims that a hotel in Venice Beach, California was due coverage for business interruption due to COVID-19. After two weeks of trial, jurors in Santa Monica deliberated just 90 minutes before finding last week that plaintiffs hadn’t proven that the virus caused direct physical loss or damage to the property needed trigger coverage. The DLA trial team also included associate Joe Davison with support from case manager/senior paralegal Bob McFadden and senior team coordinator/legal support specialist Sandy Holstrom.
Anthony Argiropoulos of Epstein Becker & Green gets a runner-up spot for scoring a $91.2 million arbitration award against UnitedHealthcare for national medical group Envision Healthcare in a dispute over alleged underpayments by the insurer for care provided to its members in 2017 and 2018. A redacted copy of the award, handed down by a AAA Commercial Arbitration Tribunal in late March, was attached to Envision’s motion to confirm the award, filed in the Southern District of Florida this week.
