Walker Wilcox Matousek LLP

Robert Conlon has extensive trial, appellate and litigation experience representing major manufacturers, mid-side and large companies, insurers and reinsurers in complex matters. He handles a broad range of cases including aviation, class actions, commercial, construction disputes, intellectual property, products liability and professional malpractice litigation. Robert also represents numerous domestic, London based and European insurers and reinsurers in major coverage disputes, including those involving professional liability, bad faith, first party property, environmental and asbestos, Chinese drywall, municipalities and construction related issues. Robert has arbitrated, tried and litigated cases in Illinois, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington and Washington DC. Robert has recently argued before the Delaware Supreme Court and The New York Court of Appeals and the New York Appellate Division – First Department. He has also handled appeals before the appellate courts of Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Washington, and before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Experience

Representative cases include:

• On April 15, 2010, the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed a summary judgment entered against WWM’s client, Westport Insurance Corporation, and remanded with instructions to enter summary judgment in Westport’s favor. Westport Ins. Corp. v. Al Bourdeau Ins. Servs., No. 287920 (Mich. Ct. App. April 15, 2010). Robert took over this case after his client had lost summary judgment, along with his partner Robert Arnold. The principal issue on appeal was whether Michigan law requires an insurer to show prejudice in order to deny coverage for a lawsuit that the insured admitted it did not tell the insurer about “as soon as practical” as it was required to do under its simple claims-made policy. In ruling for Westport, the Court of Appeals held that, unlike late notice under an occurrence-based policy (where only “unreasonable,” i.e., prejudicial, late notice voids coverage), late notice under a simple claims-made policy voids coverage without regard to “reasonableness” and thus no additional showing of prejudice is required. The Court reversed and judgment was entered in favor of Robert’s client.

• In 2009, Robert Conlon along with his partner Joyce Noyes, argued before the New York Court of Appeals (New York’s highest level state court) on behalf of his client, the primary professional liability carrier for a large law firm. The New York Court of Appeals decided that an insurer was not obligated to provide coverage to a law firm where the firm knew it could be held liable for fraudulent activities of a client but did not disclose this information prior to the inception of the policy. The Court ruled that two of its insurers can invoke “prior knowledge” exclusion in the policies in place during the year the notice of claim was provided. Executive Risk Indem. Inc. v. Pepper Hamilton, LLP., 919 N.E.2d 172 (N.Y. October 2009).

• In April 2009, WWM Attorneys Robert Conlon and Christopher Wadley won an appeal on behalf of WWM’s client, a professional liability insurance carrier, in the Washington State Court of Appeals. WWM’s client appealed from a trial court ruling that a $1 million settlement entered into between the insured and a third-party claimant, without the carrier’s authorization, was reasonable. As a consequence of the trial court’s ruling, WWM’s client would have been bound by the settlement amount in any subsequent coverage litigation with the insured and the claimant. In a published opinion, however, the appellate court reversed the trial court’s ruling, finding that the trial court had abused its discretion by failing to consider, among other things, the actual merits of the claimant’s case against the insured when it ruled that the settlement was reasonable. WWM attorneys Mark Schmidt and Bill Zeller assisted in this matter. Green v. City of Wenatchee, 148 Wash. App. 351, 199 P.3d. 1029 (2009).

• In March 2009, WWM attorneys Robert Conlon and Christopher Wadley won summary judgment on behalf of WWM’s client, a professional liability insurance carrier, in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. WWM’s client filed a declaratory judgment against a law firm and attorney, whom WWM’s client insured under a legal malpractice liability policy. WWM’s client sought a declaration that its insureds were not entitled to coverage for an underlying legal malpractice claim filed against them because the insured had reason to foresee the claim prior to purchasing the policy. The insured, on the other hand, argued that they could not have reasonable foreseen the claim when they purchased coverage. In ruling on the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment, Judge Noel L. Hillman sided with WWM’s client, finding that the insured could have reasonably foreseen the malpractice claim, as a matter of law. Therefore, Judge Hillman held that the insured was not entitled to coverage under the policy. Westport Insurance Corporation v. Jacobs & Barbone, P.A., et al., No. 1:08-cv-00801 (D.N.J. March 31, 2009).

• In 2008, Robert successfully obtained summary judgment on behalf of his client, a chemical manufacturer, that was accused of distributing products that purportedly infringed certain patents. Judge Moran of the Northern District of Illinois granted summary judgment based on the invalidity as to the subject patent. Baldwin Graphics Sys., Inc. v. Siebert, Inc., No. 03C7718, 2008 WL 4083145 (N.D. Ill. August 27, 2008). This decision followed a successful motion for summary judgment on different grounds which were affirmed in part and reversed in part by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals earlier in 2007 (No. 07-1262).

• Reinsurance Arbitration – Robert and other attorneys from Walker Wilcox Matousek represented reinsurers in a week-long arbitration in New York on behalf of the London Market involving a casualty clash reinsurance treaty and surety bond fraud.

• World Trade Center Disaster: Robert represented the security company that conducted the pre-board screening for one of the four flights hijacked by terrorists on 9/11. Litigation involving the loss of life, personal injury and property damage in the billions of dollars continues in federal court in New York.

• Successfully represented a chemical company in connection with a hazardous materials violation levied by the FAA for the alleged wrongful air-shipment of chemicals with low flash points.

• Obtained a complete defense award on behalf of Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London and other London-based insurance companies in an arbitration involving excess of loss crime coverage to a school district in New Mexico for an underlying multimillion dollar embezzlement crime.

• Successfully defended a law firm named in several class actions in New York and Illinois which allege violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act.

• Obtained a complete defense verdict for London Insurers following a six-week bench trial in New Jersey involving coverage claims by a chemical company for cleanup costs exceeding $60 million at two New Jersey toxic waste disposal sites.

• Obtained complete defense verdict as lead trial counsel in six-week bench trial involving a breach of contract action in Illinois, in which several million dollars in punitive damages were sought against Robert’s clients.

• Lead trial counsel in high-profile litigation pending in Illinois federal court involving the coverage aspects of a well-publicized civil rights action against a local governmental body.

• Secured a defense verdict in a jury trial (upheld on appeal) of claims by a Pennsylvania chemical company for environmental damages exceeding $150 million.

• Robert obtained a $1 million case evaluation award for his clients, London Market Insurers, in a coverholder malpractice case pending before a Michigan State Court.

Publications

Author, “Illinois Product Liability Practice Handbook,” IICLE, 2009.


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