ABA webinar looks ahead to anticipated COVID-19 claims and reinsurance
Join expert panelists as they examine the types of claims anticipated as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic and whether those claims are properly payable under insurance contracts during an American Bar Association-sponsored webinar titled “When the Second Shoe Drops: COVID-19 Losses and Reinsurance” on Friday, May 8, from 1-2 p.m. EDT.
The webinar, co-sponsored by the ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section and the ABACLE, will present a roundtable discussion about what claims can be expected and how buyers and sellers of reinsurance expect to address COVID-19 claims as they arise. The program will provide:
• An understanding of the broad scope of potential claims arising from COVID-19;
• Information about what reinsurers expect from their reinsured in presenting COVID-19 claims for payment;
• The legal issues likely to arise when claims are presented to reinsurers for payment.
ABA: New guidance issued for lawyers to assess knowledge of the propriety of clients’ activities
The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility released guidance today outlining a lawyer’s obligations under ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct to avoid counseling or assisting a client in a crime or fraud in non-litigation settings.
Formal Opinion 491 explains that “knows” under Model Rule 1.2(d), which restricts a lawyer’s conduct when a lawyer “knows” a client’s action is criminal or fraudulent, may be inferred from the circumstances, including a lawyer’s willful blindness to or conscious avoidance of facts.
“Where facts known to the lawyer establish a high probability that a client seeks to use the lawyer’s services for criminal or fraudulent activity, the lawyer has a duty to inquire further to avoid advising or assisting such activity,” the opinion said. “Failure to make a reasonable inquiry is willful blindness punishable under the actual knowledge standard of the rule.”
Additionally, the opinion notes that other ABA model rules, including those addressing competence, communication and diligence, may require the lawyer to investigate further. “Even if information learned in the course of a preliminary interview or during a representation is insufficient to establish ‘knowledge’ under Rule 1.2(d), other rules may require the lawyer to inquire further in order to help the client avoid crime or fraud, to avoid professional misconduct and to advance the client’s legitimate interests,” the opinion said.
The opinion provides guidance under several scenarios and notes prior ethics opinions and guidance from several states.
The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility periodically issues ethics opinions to guide lawyers, courts and the public in interpreting and applying ABA model ethics rules to specific issues of legal practice, client-lawyer relationships and judicial behavior. Recent ABA ethics opinions are available on the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility website.
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