Hunton Andrews Kurth Expands National Insurance Coverage Practice With Leading Insurance Recovery Partner Koorosh Talieh

Koorosh Talieh (KT), a nationally recognized trial lawyer with more than three decades of experience handling complex commercial insurance disputes, has joined Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP as a partner in Washington, D.C.

KT joins the firm’s insurance coverage practice from Perkins Coie LLP, where he was a partner. He represents corporate policyholders seeking to enforce insurance coverage for products, advertising injury, defamation, environmental, construction, directors and officers, employment, antitrust, fiduciary, securities, errors and omissions, and intellectual property liabilities, and a wide array of first-party property and business interruption losses.

As the most recent addition to Hunton Andrews Kurth’s insurance coverage practice, which has grown by seven attorneys over the past year, KT’s colleagues include special counsel Scott DeVries, who joined the firm’s San Francisco office in May.

“KT’s outstanding national reputation as a trial lawyer and his experience representing clients in a range of high stakes business insurance disputes perfectly complement the existing strengths of our coverage practice and provides us with important additional subject matter depth as our national insurance coverage practice continues to expand,” said Walter Andrews, head of Hunton Andrews Kurth’s insurance coverage practice. “KT is a long-time friend of many of our partners and we are pleased to welcome him to the firm as part of our ongoing efforts to build the largest national-level policyholder practice in the country.”

KT’s practice includes all phases of dispute resolution from pre-complaint investigation and advice through mediation, arbitration, trial, appeals and settlements. Some of his notable representations include:

• Represented a heavy equipment manufacturer in a mass tort asbestos bodily injury insurance coverage action under certain general liability insurance policies. Obtained a significant appellate victory on the issue of "all sums" allocation under Illinois law.
• Represented a major coal producing company and its subsidiaries in an action against its liability insurers involving allegations of bodily injury and property damage arising out of coal mining operations in nearly 400 underlying actions. Obtained a significant favorable ruling on the applicability of the absolute pollution exclusion to the underlying bodily injury and property damage claims.
• Represented an oil field services company in its insurance recovery efforts under certain directors and officers insurance policies for two separate securities claims alleging violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by making false and misleading statements and omitting material facts. Successfully recovered in excess of $125 million in both defense and indemnity, the bulk of which was used to settle the underlying securities litigation.

In addition to his insurance recovery practice, KT has extensive experience in analyzing insurance coverage under various types of insurance policies, including general liability, directors and officers, errors and omissions, bankers professional liability, employers professional liability, fiduciary liability, first-party property, builder's risk, multimedia and other types of specialized insurance products. He also provides risk management consulting services to clients during procurement process and renewal for all risks and lines of coverage. 

A graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, KT is a Fellow and Membership Committee Co-Chair of the American College of Coverage Counsel.

Hunton Andrews Kurth’s insurance coverage practice has decades of experience helping policyholders maximize insurance recoveries through insurance program reviews, claims presentation and negotiation, litigation, alternate dispute resolution, trials and appeals. With offices in Washington, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Atlanta, Dallas, London and other key commercial centers, the team has advised policyholders with traditional and emerging insurance products in virtually every sector of the economy, including utilities, energy, natural resources, manufacturing, consumer products, financial services, hospitality, health care, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, technology, e-commerce and more. Among other areas of focus, the group currently is seeking more than $3 billion in business-interruption claims for its clients arising out of their COVID-19 losses.