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| Practice: | Reinsurance and Commercial Litigation |
| | Experience: | Catherine practices in the reinsurance and general commercial litigation areas. In the reinsurance area, Catherine has extensive experience before courts and arbitration panels litigating the allocation of environmental and toxic tort settlements, as well as disputes related to claims handling, bad faith allegations, retrospectively-rated business, obligations to follow settlements, obligations to post security and interpretation of ultimate net loss, net retained lines, access to records, notice, consent to settle and arbitration clauses. In 2008, 2009 and 2010, Catherine was recognized as a leading lawyer in reinsurance litigation by Chambers USA - America's Leading Lawyers for Business.
Outside the reinsurance arena, Catherine has litigated numerous product liability cases involving toxic torts and business and contract disputes, assisted in jury selection in Madison County asbestos cases and successfully argued before the Illinois Appellate Court. She also serves as the firm’s Attorney Training Partner.
Catherine joined Butler Rubin in 1999, after three years as an associate with Kirkland & Ellis (Chicago). |
| | Representative Matters: | Reinsurance Matters- Litigated reinsurance disputes before various federal and state courts, including: TIG Insurance Co. v. Century Indemnity Co. and ACE Property & Casualty Co. (S.D.N.Y.), AIU Insurance Co. v. TIG Insurance Co. (S.D.N.Y), Vermont Reserve Insurance Co. v. American Motorists Insurance Co. (Wisc. Cir. Ct.), TIG Insurance Co. v. ACE America Reinsurance Co., Century Indemnity Co. and Century Reinsurance Co. (N.D. Ill.), Continental Insurance Co. v. ACE American Reinsurance Co. (N.D. Ill.), TIG Insurance Co. v. Stonewall Insurance Co. (N.D. Ill.), Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co. v. ACE American Reinsurance Co. (Conn. Super. Ct), and Columbia Casualty Co. and Transcontinental Insurance Co. v. GE Reinsurance Corp. (Ill. Cir. Ct.).
- Represented plaintiff insurer seeking pre-pleading security from reinsurer, Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co. v. ACE American Reinsurance Co., 901 A.2d 1164 (Conn. 2006).
- Represented cedents and assuming reinsurers in numerous arbitrations involving allocation of products and non-products asbestos and hazardous waste claims.
- Represented cedents in multiple arbitrations involving allegations of bad faith by reinsurers.
- Represented pool members in multiple arbitrations regarding rights and obligations under pooling agreements.
- Represented cedent in reinsurance arbitration arising from workers compensation claim.
- Represented assuming reinsurer in arbitration involving Public Officials and Employees Liability coverage.
- Represented cedent in arbitration over retrospectively-rated CGL policies.
- Counseled clients regarding allocation issues, broker disputes and access to records, notice and consent obligations.
General Litigation Matters- Represented manufacturer and premises defendants in numerous asbestos bodily injury suits in Cook County, IL, Madison County, IL and St. Louis, MO.
- Defended venture capital firms against breach of fiduciary duty claims.
- Represented employer-insured in arbitration over retrospectively-rated workers compensation policies.
- Represented clients in multiple commercial contract and lease disputes.
- Represented employers facing employment discrimination suits.
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| | Bar Admissions: | Catherine is admitted to practice in Illinois, and before the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois (Member, Trial Bar), the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Wisconsin and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. |
| | Industry Involvement: | Catherine is a founding member and co-host of Butler Rubin's annual Women in Reinsurance Program, an educational and networking series for women arbitrators, business executives, consultants and attorneys operating in the reinsurance industry. |
| | Speeches: | Co-Chair, ARIAS-U.S. Fall Conference and Annual Meeting, November 2009
Breakout Session Leader, ARIAS-U.S. Fall Conference and Annual Meeting, November 2008
Recent Developments: Allocation, Aggregation and Occurrences, Reinsurance Claims Management Seminar, Reinsurance Association of America, March 2007 |
| | Education: | J.D., Northwestern University School of Law, 1996- National Trial Team, 1994-1996
B.A., Duke University, 1988 |
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