Steven Adams is a Partner in the Firm's Insurance and Reinsurance Services Group.

Steve's practice focuses on the representation of domestic and international insurers and reinsurers in litigated and non-litigated matters. Steve has litigated matters and counseled clients with respect to a wide variety of claims concerning comprehensive general liability, pollution legal liability, construction defects, environmental specialty, financial lines, personal and advertising injury liability, mass tort, asbestos, employers’ liability, professional liability, directors and officers, errors and omissions and first party property insurance policies, as well as additional insured and contractual liability issues.

Prior to joining Coughlin Midlige & Garland, Steve was a Vice President/Senior Coverage Attorney in AIG’s Global Coverage Group where he analyzed coverage nationwide for large commercial and casualty losses, and represented the AIG Member Insurers in coverage declaratory judgment actions.

Upon graduation from the University of Michigan Law School, Steve became associated with a Wall Street firm where he practiced in the litigation department. In 1983, Steve moved to a boutique law firm that specialized in insurance coverage litigation. He became a Member of this Professional Corporation in 1990, and remained with that firm until 2010, when he joined AIG.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• Counsels and litigates on behalf of insurers claims for additional insured coverage, and with regard to risk transfer issues.
• Counsels and litigates on behalf of insurance coverage disputes arising out of construction defect claims. 
• Counseled clients and litigated matters related to insurance coverage for asbestos, mass tort, environmental casualty, pollution legal liability and environmental specialty claims.
• Advised underwriters and business segment claim managers and adjusters on policy language, manuscript changes and market issues.
• Acted as national coordinating and regional coverage counsel for insurers in the handling of their environmental coverage claims.
• Represented insurers in the submission of their resolved claims to facultative and treaty reinsurers, and litigated and arbitrated reinsurance coverage disputes.
• Represented insurers in disputes related to financial institutions and for claims made under Directors and Officers, Errors and Omissions, and Difference in Conditions Policies.

Speaking Engagements

Speaker, "Additional insured coverage – life after Burlington,” Coughlin Midlige & Garland LLP’s Seminar on Emerging Issues in Insurance Coverage (May 10, 2018) 

Publications and Presentations

Presenter, “Overview of Additional Insured Coverage and Contractual Indemnification,” AIG CLE/CE (January 2015)

Presenter, “The Insurance Services Office 2013 Revisions to Commercial General Liability Forms and Endorsements,” AIG CLE/CE (September 2014)

Presenter, “Trigger and Allocation Issues in Long-Tail Claims -- Comparative Analysis of New York Law with Other Jurisdictions,” AIG CLE/CE (April 2012)

Presenter, “Can the Commercial General Liability Policy Survive?” New York State Bar Association (2008)

Presenter, “Ethical Considerations Arising Under the CGL Policy,” New York State Bar Association (2006)

Presenter, “Mediation, Arbitration, Litigation – The Reasons For and Against Each One,” 1st Annual International Commutation and Reinsurance Recoveries Symposium (1997)

Memberships

Member, American Bar Association

Member, New York State Bar Association

Member, Defense Research Institute

Member, Armadillo Group

News

• March 24, 2020 Insurance Implications Of COVID-19 Pandemic
  March 24, 2020

  The Covid-19 virus is affecting almost every business and every aspect of life. State governments across the United States are...

• May 3, 2019 Coughlin Midlige & Garland Named as an Environmental Leader by CIANJ and COMMERCE Magazine
  May 3, 2019

  Coughlin Midlige & Garland LLP is honored to be selected as a finalist in the first annual Commerce and Industry Association...

• April 5, 2018 The Tenth Circuit Holds That New York Court of Appeals Likely To Allow Coverage For Claims Arising Out of a Subcontractors’ Faulty Workmanship
  April 5, 2018

  The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit recently rendered a decision that may impact New York law...

• August 2, 2017 An Analysis of Policyholder Defenses to An Insurer’s Rescission Claim
  August 2, 2017

  In a recent Summary Order in Cont’l Cas. Co. v. Boughton, Case No. 16-2384 (June 5, 2017), the United States...

Events

• May 10, 2018 Emerging Issues in Insurance Coverage Seminar
  

  Please join Coughlin Midlige & Garland at the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City, New Jersey as we host our seminar...