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| Practice: | Reinsurance Arbitration and Commercial Litigation |
| | Experience: | Lou has eighteen years of experience as a trial lawyer. He concentrates his practice on arbitration and litigation of reinsurance disputes and other complex litigation matters. He has handled appeals in both state and federal court.
Reinsurance experience includes disputes involving non-products asbestos claims, placement disclosures, obligations to follow settlements, allocation of settlements, reinsurance intermediary brokerage entitlement, and reinsurance coverage for financial guarantee bonds and other surety bond disputes.
Before joining Butler Rubin in 1993, Lou was a trial attorney in the Civil Fraud Division of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. He later served as a law clerk to the Hon. James B. Zagel, U.S. District Court Judge. Martindale-Hubbell recognizes Lou as an AV® rated attorney. |
| | Representative Cases: | - After four-week trial, obtained a $5.6 million judgment in breach of contract action brought on behalf of reinsurance broker.
- Defended a travel insurance provider in a reinsurance arbitration involving a dispute over coverage for terrorism claims stemming from September 11 attack.
- Represented cedent in federal court dispute to recover on a facultative reinsurance contract, resulting in a favorable settlement for client.
- Obtained $1 million + judgment in a breach of severance compensation agreement case brought on behalf of a former Caremark International executive; successfully defended the trial court's award on appeal.
- Obtained a permanent injunction against a former employee of a software development company ordering the return and prohibiting the disclosure of company trade secrets.
- Prevented a developer from obtaining injunction to use our client's access road as the main artery of a large-scale commercial development project; successfully defended the trial court's judgment on appeal.
- Lead trial counsel in an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit against the Chicago Transit Authority brought on behalf of mobility impaired plaintiffs; obtained more than $15 million in improvements to CTA system to achieve equal access to public trains and buses for riders with disabilities.
A more comprehensive list of case experience is available upon request. |
| | Bar Admissions: | Lou is admitted to practice in Illinois, California, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (where he is a member of the trial bar), and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. |
| | Memberships: | Active member of ARIAS-U.S. (Reinsurance Arbitration Society) |
| | Articles: | What’s Left of "Manifest Disregard of the Law" as a Basis for Vacatur of Arbitration Awards after Hall Street?, ARIAS U.S. Quarterly, First Quarter 2010, Vol. 17, No. 1
The Broker in the Middle: The Law of Broker Compensation, ARIAS U.S. Quarterly, Third Quarter 2007, Vol. 14, No. 3
Obtaining and Precluding Evidence from Non-Parties Based Upon the Scope of Arbitrator Authority Under the Federal Arbitration Act, Mealey’s Litigation Report: Reinsurance, October 20, 2005
Protecting the Right to Challenge Arbitration Awards Based on “Evident Partiality,” Corporate Counsel, June 2005
Circuit Split Deepens Over Scope of FAA Pre-Hearing Subpoena Authority, Mealey's Litigation Report: Reinsurance, May 13, 2004
Assignment of Reinsurance Contract Rights, Journal of Reinsurance, Fall 2003, Vol. 10 No. 4
| | Speeches: | Is the Reinsurance Contract the Entire Agreement Even When It Says It Is?, Reinsurance Contracts: The Art of Designing Reinsurance Contracts & Programs Seminar, Reinsurance Association of America, June 2007
Using or Excluding Evidence in an Arbitration Hearing, American Conference Institute's Legal and Strategic Guide to Reinsurance Arbitrations Seminar, September 2005 |
| | Education: | J.D., Northwestern University School of Law, 1989- Notes and Comments Editor, Northwestern University Law Review, 1988-1989
- First Prize, William Jennings Bryan Award, Julius H. Miner Moot Court Competition, 1988
- Best Speaker, International Academy of Trial Lawyers Award, Julius H. Miner Moot Court Competition, 1988
B.A., magna cum laude, Colgate University, 1984
Phi Beta Kappa |
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