Ben Lenhart is a partner practicing in the areas of insurance and litigation. He serves as co-chair for Covington’s preeminent Insurance Practice Group. For more than 20 years, he has helped his coverage clients successfully resolve their insurance disputes. Ben believes that his clients are best served by knowing how and when to use all of the tools available to resolve coverage disputes including settlement negotiations, ADR, and litigation. Using this balanced approach, many of his coverage cases resolve successfully with little or no litigation. He has been named as a leading lawyer by numerous ranking firms including Chambers USA (Nationwide), Legal 500, Best Lawyers in America, International Who’s Who, Washington DC Super Lawyers and PLC Leading Lawyers, and he is one of only a dozen policyholder lawyers nationwide included in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame. He has been a featured speaker at many leading insurance conferences.
Ben is often asked by clients to take the lead role in structuring insurance recovery strategies and negotiating settlements. He has been involved in over 500 insurance settlements and judgments covering the spectrum of liabilities, with individual recoveries ranging in size from under $1m to more than $500m. He has represented many policyholders in negotiating multi-party coverage-in-place or cost sharing agreements. His substantive experience includes: environmental claims, product liability claims, directors and officers (D&O) and professional liability claims, asbestos, business interruption, employment-related claims including discrimination claims and employee theft, mass tort, silica, hearing loss, repetitive stress injury (RSI), "dirty air" and natural resource damage (NRD) claims, fiduciary claims, including 401(k) and ERISA claims, catastrophic loss, and not-for-profit liability claims.
He has particular experience with Resolute and the London Market (having reached more than 100 settlements with these entities). He is deeply involved in UK solvent schemes of arrangement on behalf of policyholders. He was counsel to the successful objecting policyholders in the BAIC, WFUM and Scottish Lion solvent schemes, the leading cases in the solvent scheme arena.
Ben also has an active pro bono practice, most recently assisting low-income persons with disability insurance matters, helping Superstorm Sandy victims secure coverage for homes lost during the storm, and helping a small store owner recover insurance for fire losses.
Ben has taught Constitution Law at Georgetown Law Center for more than 20 years.
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