Area law firm seeks court help in dispute with insurers
A prominent Washington County law firm is going to court in an attempt to get insurers to cover the costs of its defense from a deluge of ongoing litigation.
A civil complaint filed on Feb. 4 for Dodaro, Matta and Cambest asks that a federal judge require Catlin Insurance Inc., QBE Insurance Corp. or both of those companies to pay to defend the firm from a string of six lawsuits in which the firm was named since July. Neither insurer has responded to the filing.
The plaintiffs in those lawsuits accuse lawyers from the firm of failing to notify them of the signs of an alleged fraud scheme that was being carried out by former client Alternative Energy Holdings, which is a co-defendant in those cases. DMC and its attorneys deny wrongdoing and dispute the allegations against them. The lawsuits have been consolidated into one case before U.S. District Judge Robert Colville in the Western District in Pennsylvania.
Along with AEH and DMC, the plaintiffs are suing attorneys Michael Hammond and Stephen Toprani – a former county district attorney who left DMC last year and is now counsel for W.G. Tomko Inc. – plus DMC Bradley, affiliate of the firm. They are represented by Pittsburgh attorney Joseph Luvara, who also filed the bid by DMC, Toprani, Hammond and DMC Bradley for the insurance coverage.
Luvara wrote that his clients “have invited (QBE and Catlin) to participate in the mediation scheduled for May 17, 2020, and are demanding a defense and complete indemnification to the fullest extent of their respective policies.”
In the underlying lawsuits, the plaintiffs accuse AEH and three principals of the company – Robert Irey and Jonathan Freeze of Robinson Township, Allegheny County, and Kevin Carney of Ohio – of violating state and federal securities laws during a venture in which they allegedly accepted investments of as much as $100,000 from each plaintiff for a venture that purportedly involved alternative energy facilities. The plaintiffs say they never saw any money back, let alone the double- and triple-digit-percentage returns they were allegedly promised.
DMC, which is based in Cecil Township, provides legal services for a number of public entities, including the city of Washington. Along with the indemnification, it seeks a declaratory judgment ordering Catlin, QBE or both to reimburse the firm for the costs it already incurred in its legal defense.
Catlin is based in Atlanta. QBE’s headquarters is in New York City. DMC had a professional liability policy with Catlin from July 1, 2018, to July 1, 2020. It now has a QBE commercial lines policy that’s active from last July 1 until the same date this year. The switch in policies overlapped with the period between May 21, when the firm received a letter from one of the jilted investors, and July 17, when the first of the lawsuits was filed.
Luvara wrote in court papers that his clients dispute the insurers’ legal basis for denying DMC’s claims.