Elizabeth A. Fitzpatrick, Esq.

Elizabeth concentrates her practice on insurance and reinsurance coverage disputes and civil appeals.  She has represented insurers in declaratory judgment actions and arbitrations, achieved appellate victories for insurers and has rendered coverage opinions on a variety of issues arising under general, professional and employer’s liability, directors’ and officers’, homeowner’s and commercial and personal automobile liability policies.

With her extensive background in appellate practice and, as a member of Lewis Johs’ insurance practice group, Elizabeth is uniquely prepared to write and argue the myriad of insurance issues referred to Lewis Johs for appellate handling.  Elizabeth has over forty published decisions in both the New York State and Federal Courts.  She is a member of the Defense Research Institute Appellate Practice Committee and served as a member of the Defense Association of New York’s Committee on the Law researching and writing Amicus Briefs for submission to the New York Court of Appeals on issues affecting the defense bar.

Elizabeth is a frequent lecturer on insurance coverage topics for the New York State and Nassau County Bar Associations, various professional groups and has served as the local chair and overall statewide planning chair for the New York State Bar Association’s Insurance Coverage Seminars.  She has been a frequent contributor to the New York Law Journal’s “Outside Counsel” column on coverage-related topics.  Elizabeth is the founder and serves as the editor of Lewis Johs’ insurance coverage newsletter, entitled “We’ve Got You Covered” and authors the firm’s Insurance Coverage Blog.

Prior to joining Lewis Johs, Elizabeth was a member of a Long Island based firm representing several major insurers.  She handled a variety of coverage related matters in New York State and federal courts at both the trial and appellate levels.

Elizabeth was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1991, the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York in 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007 and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 2009. She is a member of the New York State and Nassau County Bar Associations and is also a member of the Insurance Committee of the New York State Bar Association’s Torts, Insurance and Compensation Law Section, where she serves as chairperson for the Automobile and General Liability Subcommittee and is a member of the  Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association’s Torts, Insurance and Compensation Law Section.  She is also a member of the Defense Research Institute, Insurance, Appellate  and Construction Committees.

Elizabeth graduated from St. John’s University School of Law in 1991 and received her Bachelor of Arts from Pennsylvania State University in 1985.  She proudly serves as a member of the Volunteer Admissions Program for Pennsylvania State University and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Child Care Council of Suffolk.

Representative Appellate Decisions for Elizabeth Fitzpatrick :

Atlantic Balloon & Novelty Corp. v. Amer. Motorist Ins. Co., 62 AD3d 920 (2nd Dept. 2009). The Appellate Division, Second Department reversed the trial court’s denial of our motion for summary judgment on behalf of American Motorist Insurance Company, finding that the policy’s exclusions for dishonest acts and for false pretense clearly applied to the loss involved in the case, citing commonly accepted principles of contract interpretation whereby the plain meaning of a policy’s language may not be disregarded to find an ambiguity where none exists. The court declared that our client had no obligation to afford coverage for the loss claimed.

Perkins v. Allstate Ins. Co., 51 AD3d 647 (2nd Dept. 2008). The Appellate Division, Second Department reversed the trial court’s denial of our motion for summary judgment on behalf of Allstate Insurance Company, finding that the judgment which the plaintiff was seeking to enforce, pursuant to Insurance Law §3420(a)(2), was not obtained against an “insured” under the policy. Further, the court found that a timely disclaimer was not required because there was no coverage in the first instance and because the accident occurred outside the State of New York, rendering Insurance Law §3420(d)’s strict requirements for the timeliness of a disclaimer inapplicable.

New York State Ins. Fund v. Merchants Ins. Co. of New Hampshire, Inc., 5 AD3d 449 (2nd Dept. 2004). We were successful in obtaining an affirmance of the grant of summary judgment to The New York State Insurance Fund. The court found that Merchants Insurance Company had failed to demonstrate a triable issue of fact as to whether its insured’s purported failure to cooperate amounted to willful and avowed obstruction so as to justify a disclaimer of coverage. The court also found Merchants’ disclaimer was untimely. With respect to a separate policy issued to another entity by Merchants, the court found triable issues of fact as to the applicability of an exclusion for bodily injury to employees of the insured.

Interboro Mut. Indemnity Ins. Co. v. Lindstrand, 289 AD2d 450 (2nd Dept. 2001). In this action, the court held that the insured had violated the release and trust and subrogation conditions of its policy of insurance with Interboro Mutual and in particular had violated the conditions set forth in the uninsured motorist endorsement. Summary judgment was thus granted to our client and the insured was directed to repay our client amounts they had paid as an uninsured motorist claim.

New York State Ins. Fund v. Mount Vernon Fire Ins. Co., 2005 WL 82036 (S.D.N.Y. 2005) In this convoluted factual scenario involving severe injuries to plaintiff in the underlying action, Yong Hwan Chae, at a construction site in New York City, the court in an earlier decision granted our motion for summary judgment finding that the disclaimer issued by the insurer was untimely. The court, however, found a question of fact as to the relationship between two companies which we claimed were insured by U.S. Liability. In a subsequent decision, the court applied the de facto merger doctrine and held that the insurer was obligated to reimburse the New York State Insurance Fund for 20% of the verdict rendered in the underlying action up to its $1,000,000 policy limit. (U.S. Liability has appealed the decision to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals).

Representative Publications:
Creating Coverage by Estoppel
By: Elizabeth A. Fitzpatrick
Published in the New York Law Journal, December 3, 1998

Meeting Cooperation’s Heavy Burden of Proof
By: Elizabeth A. Fitzpatrick
Published in the New York Law Journal, March 12, 2002

Determining the Timeliness of a Disclaimer of Coverage
By: Elizabeth A. Fitzpatrick
Published in the New York Law Journal, May 22, 2003

Intentional Act Exclusion Policy-Interpretation Conflict
By: Elizabeth A. Fitzpatrick
Published in the New York Law Journal, Thursday, April 19, 2007

Homeowner, Commercial Insurance: Coverage For Assaults
By: Elizabeth A. Fitzpatrick
Published in the New York Law Journal, December 12, 2008

A Wrong Without an Acceptable Remedy Defense Counsel Error and the Tripartite Relationship
By: Elizabeth A. Fitzpatrick (co-authored with Dan Kohane)
Published in the Defense Research Institute (DRI), May 2009

Presentations:

• LAWLINE – The Prejudice Legislation Fundamentally Changed Insurance Coverage Law in New York – 2009
• NYSBA: Additional Insured Coverage: Hot Topics and Critical Issues for 2009 – Spring 2009 [Long Island Chairperson]
• NBI – Litigating the Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Claim – May 2009
• NCBA – Insurance Law Update – 2009
• NCBA – Rise and Fall of the Labor Law Accident Case – October 2008
• NCBA – Insurance Coverage Law – September 2008/2007
• NCBA – Automobile Insurance Update – 2006-2008
• NYSBA – 2008 Can the Commercial General Liability Policy Survive? [Overall Statewide Planning Chairperson and Long Island Chairperson]
• NYSBA – Law School for Claims Professionals – Spring 2008/2007
• NYSBA Law School for Claims Professionals Chairperson 2009
• NBI – Insurance Coverage Law- Understanding Coverage Options: Exploring First and Third Party Issues and Answers – September 2007
• NYSBA – 2007 Insurance Coverage Update: Focus on First Party Coverage Issues [Long Island Chairperson]
• NYSBA – Current State of Insurance Law §3420(d)’s Timely Disclaimer Requirements – September 2006
• Commercial Lines Coverage for the Construction Defect Claim – Spring 2006
• Commercial Lines Insurance Coverage With Advanced Issues – Spring 2004

Practicing: Insurance Coverage Disputes and Civil Appeals, Declaratory Judgment Actions and Arbitrations, General, Professional and Employer's Liability, Directors and Officers, Homeowner's, and Commercial and Personal Automobile Liability Policies