David M. Farkouh

David M. Farkouh is Of Counsel in the Firm’s Insurance and Reinsurance Services Group. 

David focuses his practice on insurance coverage litigation and on counseling insurers on complex claims across property and casualty lines. With more than twenty years of experience, David counsels insurance companies on coverage, risk transfer, and issues of bad faith. He has handled matters involving CGL, Excess/Umbrella, Environmental, Professional Liability, D&O, E&O, Cyber, Employers’ Liability, Commercial Auto, Commercial Property, and Business Interruption policies, as well as OCIP and CCIP wrap-up programs. David has experience in all phases of coverage litigation in New York and New Jersey state and federal courts, involving claims arising throughout the country.

David has represented insurers in high-stakes coverage matters involving construction accidents and defects, wrongful death and serious bodily injury, environmental and long tail liabilities, and nine-figure coverage disputes with nationwide exposure. He has won summary judgment in federal coverage actions involving claims for business risks, latent construction defects, and the duty to defend on a primary and non-contributory basis under manuscript additional insured endorsements, and won affirmance in the Second Circuit in a lost-policy dispute involving long tail asbestos claims. Outside the courtroom, David serves as a direct point of contact for claims executives, providing coverage opinions, coverage position letters, and claim strategy, and handling risk transfer demands, subrogation recoveries, policy buybacks, and the negotiated resolution of high-exposure claims.

Experience

W. Waterproofing Co. v. Zurich Am. Ins. Co., 685 F. Supp. 3d 157 (S.D.N.Y. 2023) (summary judgment defending employers’ liability policy against subcontractor insured’s claims for business risks arising from construction site accident).

Antamex Int’l, Inc. v. Zurich Am. Ins. Co., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108867 (D.N.J. June 22, 2023) (summary judgment defending CGL policies against claims for latent construction defects in manufacture and installation of casino’s curtain wall facade).

Berkley Ins. Co. v. Prime Ins. Co., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123656 (E.D.N.Y. July 18, 2023) (summary judgment establishing duty to defend on a primary and non-contributory basis under subcontractor’s manuscript additional insured endorsement).

Cosmopolitan Shipping Co. v. Cont’l Ins. Co., 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 2311 (2d Cir. Jan. 30, 2023) (affirming judgment that insured failed to establish material terms of lost marine protection and indemnity policy alleged to cover underlying asbestos claims).

Western Waterproofing Co. v. Zurich Am. Ins. Co., 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20083 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 3, 2022) (summary judgment finding no duty to defend under CGL policy for underlying construction accident claims).

Newport Assocs. Dev. Co., et al. v. Chubb Custom Ins. Co., et al., Dkt. No. HUD-L-003482-18 (N.J. Super., Law Div., Hudson Cty.) (obtained denial in part of insured’s motion to compel discovery of geographic and customary rates paid to defense counsel by major insurer, substantially limiting the required disclosures subject to confidentiality protections).

Tishman, et ano. v. Old Republic General Ins. Co., et al., Index No. 654745/2018 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. Cty., 10/9/20) (order granting summary judgment finding commercial auto insurance owes defense to owner and general contractor insured under wrap-up).

Madison Nat’l Life Ins. Co., Inc. v. Travelers Prop. Cas. Co. of Am., 462 Fed. Appx. 102 (2d Cir. 2012) (summary judgment enforcing financial services exclusion in commercial general liability insurance policies).

Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC v. Ins. Co. N.A., et al., Dkt. No. UNN-L-3230-08 (N.J. Super.) (favorable settlement involving decades long exposure across different layers of excess subscription policies issued to insured’s predecessor companies that manufactured, sold, and distributed herbicides throughout the corn belt) (seven year litigation spanning the law of numerous jurisdictions, involving various forms of pollution exclusions from sudden and accidental to total and absolute as well as custom forms, allocation of long tail liabilities, fate and transport issues, work with experts, depositions, discovery disputes, and summary judgment motions).

Oravsky v. Encompass Ins. Co., 2012 WL 12918714 (D.N.J. 2012) (court approval of class action settlement by auto insurance carrier) and 804 F. Supp. 2d 228 (D.N.J. 2011) (pre-discovery dismissal of bad faith claim).

Awards and Honors

Selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America© (2024 – 2026). Their selection methodology is available here.  No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Selected for inclusion in New Jersey Super Lawyers – Rising Stars (2013 – 2019). The selection methodology is available here. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Memberships

Member, New York State Bar Association

Member, New Jersey State Bar Association

Member, American Bar Association

News

• August 20, 2024 16 CMG Attorneys Selected for Inclusion - Best Lawyers in America©
  August 20, 2024

  Coughlin Midlige & Garland LLP is pleased to announce that 16 of the Firm’s attorneys have been selected by their peers for inclusion in the…

• August 17, 2023 CMG Attorneys Selected for Inclusion - Best Lawyers in America©
  August 17, 2023

  Coughlin Midlige & Garland LLP is pleased to announce that 16 of the Firm’s attorneys have been selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2024…