Represented Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. in its $102.5 million acquisition of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine.

The First Circuit affirmed summary judgment for our client Standard Insurance Company in a disability benefits case. The court held that Standard was not liable for payments of benefits to treat Chronic Lyme Disease beyond the 24 month limitation period set by the ERISA plan for limited physical and mental conditions.

In two separate class actions, in which Pierce Atwood separately represented Unum Life Insurance Company and Sun Life Assurance Company, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that using Retained Asset Accounts (RAAs) to pay death benefits claims on group life insurance policies does not violate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), where the policies either require or permit payment by RAA.

Pierce Atwood serves as outside immigration counsel for Unum, the largest provider of disability insurance products in the United States and the United Kingdom, employing more than 9,000 people, with total revenue for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2016 in excess of $11.05 billion. A Fortune 500 company, Unum Group is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “UNM.”

Pierce Atwood partner Michael Daly successfully represented an insured food processing company in an appeal before the Massachusetts Appeals Court to obtain insurance coverage for accidentally damaging its customer’s product.  The appeal turned on the issue of whether an unexplained cause of damage to property constitutes an “occurrence” under a commercial general liability (CGL) insurance policy.

Lead negotiator for major property and casualty insurance company on enterprise performance management software contract. Successfully introduced and negotiated solution to an inter-operability issue that threatened to sink the deal.

Lead negotiator on behalf of a New England-based insurance company in connection with replacing a home-grown IT system (including self-hosted servers and legacy software platforms) with an outsourced core insurance platform consisting of a policy administration system, claims processing and settlement solution, rating engine and underwriting and decisioning tools. When the vendor’s in-house counsel proved to be an obstacle to compromise and progress, we suggested and implemented strategies to minimize counsel’s role to enable the vendor’s senior business leaders to make key decisions.

The Maine Legislature in 2011 passed a landmark bill (PL 90) aimed at reforming the failing individual health insurance market in Maine. The bill authorized establishment of a new non-governmental insurance company (the Maine Guaranteed Access Reinsurance Association, or “MGARA”) that would provide reinsurance to cover the sickest individuals historically responsible for the bulk of the health services used and corresponding costs, with the ultimate goal of reducing premiums in that market. The Board of Directors of MGARA retained Pierce Atwood to analyze the new groundbreaking law, form the new reinsurance company, guide its financing and other operations, and work with the Legislature and Bureau of Insurance through this complex process. MGARA began its operations in July 2012 as planned and is currently providing reinsurance for over 3,000 of Maine's sickest individuals. Pierce Atwood is proud to have served MGARA and the State in this important work.

We advised a major national insurer regarding the privacy law implications of its big data marketing initiatives.