Jeanne M. Kohler

Jeanne Kohler represents U.S. and international insurers and reinsurers in complex commercial litigation and arbitrations, including complex insurance coverage disputes and reinsurance matters. She regularly represents and counsels insurers, cedents, reinsurers, and retrocessionaires on claims, coverage, and regulatory issues across all lines of business.

Jeanne is the co-chair of the firm’s reinsurance division. She has represented insurers and reinsurers in numerous litigations, mediations, and arbitrations in the property and casualty and life and health sectors with respect to a variety of issues. She has also represented insurers, brokers, third-party administrators, and managing general agents and underwriters in disputes. In addition, she has counseled clients and acted on their behalf in (re)insurer insolvency proceedings.

Jeanne also has extensive experience drafting reinsurance contracts and assisting clients in the review and analysis of reinsurance contracts. She has also counseled clients regarding settlement agreements and commutation agreements, as well as having drafted them on her clients’ behalf. She has also assisted clients in reinsurance transactions. She also regularly assists clients with product development and the drafting of insurance policy wordings.

Jeanne is the New York office managing shareholder.

Reinsurance Experience

Jeanne has represented cedents, reinsurers, retrocedents, and retrocessionaires in numerous litigations, mediations, and arbitrations in the property and casualty and life and health sectors involving facultative and treaty reinsurance with respect to a variety of issues, including allocation, aggregation, number of occurrences, follow-the-fortunes, late notice, salvage and subrogation recoveries, inuring insurance and reinsurance, warranties, rescission, commutations, offset, insolvency, contract wordings, claims handling, and other coverage issues.

Specific to the life and health sector, Jeanne has experience representing cedents and reinsurers in life, health, LTC, and annuity reinsurance matters with respect to a variety of issues including rate increases under YRT and other types of treaties, recapture, actuarial and pricing issues, and agent/broker misconduct, among others.

Jeanne has also acted for clients in disputes involving brokers, third-party administrators, and managing general agents and underwriters, as well as (re)insurer insolvencies.

Jeanne also has extensive experience drafting reinsurance contracts and assisting clients in the review and analysis of reinsurance contracts. She has also counseled clients regarding settlement agreements and commutation agreements, as well as having drafted them on her clients’ behalf.  Jeanne also regularly assists clients in reinsurance transactions.

Recent matters include:

• Represented (re)insurers in arbitrations and pre-dispute counseling involving a reinsurer’s or retrocessionaire’s ability to increase rates under YRT contracts.
• Represented a reinsurer with respect to its denial relating to the aggregation of claims under the event wording of a catastrophe treaty.
• Prevailed on behalf of a reinsurer in recovering a nine-figure damage award in a property reinsurance dispute involving many issues, including scope of coverage, salvage and recoveries, and inuring reinsurance provisions.
• Secured multimillion-dollar awards for ceding company clients with respect to asbestos billings, where the issues involved aggregation and follow-the-fortunes.
• Represented a reinsurer in arbitration concerning its denial of a multimillion-dollar medical malpractice loss ceded to it in a matter involving late notice and bad faith claims handling.
• Represented a life reinsurer in an arbitration involving claims issues and the scope of the treaty’s contested claims provision.
• Prevailed in matters on behalf of reinsurers with respect to subrogation recoveries.
• Represented various ceding company and reinsurer clients in insolvency matters, including two major Pennsylvania liquidations and other insolvencies.
• Represented a leading aviation insurance pool against its reinsurers in litigations to secure increases in LOCs, necessitated by 9/11 and other large aviation losses.
• Represented reinsurers in multiple arbitrations involving surety bond claims.
• Prevailed in various matters for insurers in disputes with their managing general agents regarding a variety of issues, including profit commissions and underwriting violations.

Direct Experience

On the direct side, Jeanne acts as coverage counsel for insurer clients for claims involving various lines of business, including commercial general liability, professional liability, D&O, E&O, workers' compensation, life and health, property, pollution and energy.

Specifically, Jeanne has represented, counseled, and acted for insurers in coverage matters on many different types of claims, including, but not limited to:

• Sexual/physical abuse, molestation, and assault
• Construction defect
• Lead paint exposure
• Asbestos
• Third-party property damage
• Environmental/pollution
• Product contamination
• Personal and advertising injury exposures

• Euromoney's Insurance and Reinsurance Expert Guides (2016)

• ARIAS–U.S.
• Association of Professional Insurance Women
• New York State Bar Association

• Re Contracts, Reinsurance Association of America, New York, NY (July 2016)
• Re Claims 2016: Reinsurance Claims and Loss Management, Reinsurance Association of America, Bermuda (March 2016)
• "ABC Insurance Company Case Study" and "KGM Re Case Study," Re Claims 2014: Reinsurance Claims and Loss Management, Reinsurance Association of America, New York, NY (October 2014)
• "A Comparative Workshop: AIRROC DRP or 'Traditional' Arbitration – What Fits Your Dispute Better?," Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Run-Off Companies, Philadelphia, PA (September 2014)
• "Reinsurance Contract Wording Issues," IRUA Next Generation Leadership Seminar, New York, NY (July 2014)
• "The Arbitration Process: Presentation and Workshop," AIRROC Boston Regional Education Day, Boston, MA (April 2014)
• "Reinsurance Contract Issues Related to Superstorm Sandy," Re Claims 2013: Reinsurance Claims and Loss Management, Reinsurance Association of America, New York, NY (October 2013)
• Re Claims 2012, Reinsurance Association of America, New York, NY (October 2012)
• Re Claims 2011, Reinsurance Association of America, New York, NY (September 2011)
• "What, Exactly, Is Bad Faith in Reinsurance," HarrisMartin Reinsurance Summit: Fresh Perspectives on the Reinsurance Front, Philadelphia, PA (September 2011)
• Re Claims 2010, Reinsurance Association of America, New York, NY (September 2010)
• "Arbitration Process," ARIAS, Palm Beach, FL (May 2009)
• "Reinsurance Issues: U.S. v. U.K. – A Comparative Study," Xchanging Claims Services, London (September 2008)
• "Developments in Reinsurance Case Law," Brokers and Reinsurance Markets Association 2008 Committee Rendezvous, Naples, FL (April 2008)
• "Electronic Discovery in the U.S. – What Insurers and Reinsurers Need to Know," International Underwriting Association, London (September 2007)
• "Developments in the Wake of Katrina," Reinsurance Association of America Reinsurance Claims Conference, Chicago, IL (March 2007)
• Re Claims 2007: Reinsurance Claims Management for Claims Professional, Chicago, IL (March 2007)

• Partner, Locke Lord LLP, New York, NY (2005–2015)
• Associate, Locke Lord LLP, New York, NY (1999–2004)
• Associate, Mendes & Mount, New York, NY (1995–1999)