Overview
Stephanie Fichera’s practice focuses on defending insurance carriers and financial services companies in class actions, complex civil litigation, and appeals in federal and state courts throughout the United States.
Stephanie represents life, annuity, and long-term care companies in litigation relating to sales practices and post-sale administration of insurance products, including actions involving breach of contract, fraud, bad faith, breach of fiduciary duty, statutory consumer protection, financial elder abuse, and RICO claims. She has handled interpleader actions and cases related to the payment of benefits under life insurance, annuity, and long-term care insurance contracts. Her experience also includes matters involving defamation, misappropriation of trade secrets, tortious interference, and wrongful termination claims by or against insurance sales agents, investment adviser representatives, and insurance company employees. Stephanie has defended financial services companies in industry arbitrations before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). She also has experience representing insurance companies in wage and hour collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
In addition to her work on behalf of life, annuity, and long-term care insurance carriers, Stephanie defends property and casualty insurers in class actions involving the construction of homeowners’ policies, Florida’s No-Fault (PIP) statute, and the Medicare Secondary Payer Act.
Stephanie is an editor of and contributor to Expect Focus: Life, Annuity, and Retirement Solutions and Classified: The Class Action Blog. She was an editor of the ABA TIPS Life Insurance Law Committee’s newsletter from August 2013 to August 2015, and the committee’s chair from August 2016 to August 2017. As chair, Stephanie worked with other TIPS leaders in planning and developing programming for the 43rd Annual Midwinter Symposium on Insurance and Employee Benefits, a two-day CLE and networking program focusing on issues and trends in life, health, and disability insurance litigation and regulation and ERISA.