Sean T. Keely

Even while a first-year law student, Sean Keely was involved in reinsurance litigation as an intern with a firm handling reinsurance and insurance insolvency matters. Over 30 years later, he brings that deep industry knowledge to bear, litigating and arbitrating commercial disputes with a particular focus on the (re)insurance industry. Clients seek out Sean because he knows the industry and the issues they face. Trained as a trial lawyer and with decades serving the (re)insurance industry, clients rely on Sean to craft commercial solutions when appropriate and to take cases to trial when necessary to win them. He has successfully tried cases to verdict in U.S. state and federal courts and to final award in arbitration for clients based in the U.S., London, Bermuda, Continental Europe, and Asia.

Over the past several years, Sean has represented clients facing major challenges for the industry, including Russia-Ukraine aviation losses, California wildfires, and COVID-19. He has been at the center of cases involving industry loss warranties, parametric (re)insurances, and transfers of both live and legacy business. And he has been involved in cases that have made law and brought success for clients involving late notice, allocation and aggregation of losses, follow-the-settlements, breaches of the duty of utmost good faith, material misrepresentation, and insurer insolvency.

In addition to leading the (re)insurance practice Firmwide, he also heads the commercial litigation section for in the Firm’s New York office. Beyond the (re)insurance industry, Sean has represented energy companies, financial institutions, manufacturers, cable-television providers, beverage companies, and a variety of other clients in general commercial litigation.

Sean's Practice

Representative Matters

• Advising several Lloyd’s syndicates on reinsurance issues presented by Russia-Ukraine aviation losses
• Representing a reinsurer in litigation and arbitration to successfully resolve over $150 million of potential liabilities on a public entity reinsurance program
• Recovering over $30 million for a coverholder from an Asian reinsurer in federal court in New York
• Winning dismissal of a complaint in New York state court by a Bermudian cedent seeking to avoid its loss under a $10 million wind swap parametric reinsurance contract
• Winning a federal jury trial for a European reinsurer on a fraudulent inducement claim, with a $34.5m verdict, including punitive damages
• Successfully representing London-market reinsurers in arbitration defending against US$50M of billings arising from asbestos and other mass tort losses.
• Winning a federal court decision of first impression establishing the availability of a late notice defense for a reinsurer under California law without the need to show prejudice.
• Winning summary judgment for reinsurers recovering nearly US$10M in interest on subrogation recoveries the cedent had wrongfully withheld.
• Establishing as a matter of first impression procedures in insurance insolvency proceeding for reinsurers to interpose defenses to policyholder claims submitted to insolvent cedent’s estate.