Patrick Frye

Patrick Frye represents policyholders, insurers, and reinsurers in complex commercial litigation, arbitrations, and insurance coverage disputes. His practice includes disputes involving reinsurance contracts, coverage obligations, antitrust claims, and other commercial matters in state and federal courts and before arbitration panels.

Patrick has litigated disputes involving a wide range of insurance products, including commercial general liability, professional liability, directors and officers liability, disability, and other specialty coverages. His reinsurance practice includes disputes between cedents and reinsurers concerning contract interpretation, allocation of losses, number of events or occurrences, and collection obligations.

Patrick has substantial trial and arbitration experience. He served as second chair in a federal trial that resulted in a $5 million judgment for a reinsurer in a dispute with a ceding insurer. He also served as second chair in a reinsurance arbitration concerning whether the September 11 World Trade Center attack constituted one or multiple events under the treaty, resulting in the release of a $14.4 million letter of credit to his client.

When not representing his clients in their disputes, Patrick works on his Krav Maga.

Patrick's Practice

Representative Matters

• Served as second chair in a federal trial involving breach of reinsurance contracts, resulting in a $5 million judgment for the client reinsurer.
• Served as second chair in a reinsurance arbitration concerning the number of events arising from the September 11 World Trade Center attack, resulting in the release of a $14.4 million letter of credit to the client.
• Represented a reinsurer in a three-week federal evidentiary hearing concerning a captive insurer’s redomestication to Bermuda and disputes over coverage for asbestos and environmental liabilities.
• Represented an excess insurer in a coverage dispute involving a manufacturer’s asbestos liabilities.
• Represented a directors and officers liability insurer in an arbitration concerning coverage for an investment fund’s regulatory settlement of securities-manipulation allegations.
• Won dismissal of a disability policyholder’s claim to reform his policy and obtained summary judgment on his claim for coverage under the policy as written.
• Won judgment for a professional liability insurer on a claim for coverage of a $1.25 million judgment entered against its policyholder.
• Won dismissal of a $6 million coverage claim against a client arising from a policy issued by the client’s insurance subsidiary.
• Won summary judgment, including an award of attorneys’ fees, for an insurer seeking to collect a $1 million deductible from a workers’ compensation policyholder.
• Won summary judgment for a life insurer against the State of Illinois in a tax dispute.
• Represented insurers in a putative class action alleging antitrust and racketeering violations arising from alleged bid rigging and underwriting practices in the London insurance market.
• Represents an insurance company in a coverage and bad-faith action against its professional liability insurer.
• Won dismissal of an aerosol manufacturer’s indemnification, implied warranty, and tort claims against a downstream supplier over alleged benzene contamination of its products.
• Won dismissal of an insurance brokerage’s lawsuit alleging that its former employee breached her confidentiality and non-solicitation agreements.
• Won dismissal of a qui tam lawsuit accusing an insurance brokerage of mishandling premiums.