Fried & Epstein LLP

Attorney Profiles

Mr. Epstein concentrates his practice in insurance coverage law. He has a special expertise in securing insurance for environmental, products and professional liabilities and for first-party property and business interruption losses. He has represented market leaders in the airline, chemical, financial, mining, food and HVAC&R industries.

In 2010, Mr. Epstein, along with John Fried, achieved a jury verdict in response to an insurer’s denial of coverage based on late notice.   See 426-428 West 46th St. Owners, Inc. v. Greater New York Mutual Ins. Co., Index No.: 603354/2003 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2010).  He also successfully tried and argued the appeals in Arceneaux v. Amstar Corp., 921 So.2d 189 (La. App. 4 Cir. 2005) (Arceneaux I) and Arceneaux v. Amstar Corp., 969 So.2d 755 (La. App. 4 Cir. 2007), writ denied, 977 So.2d 952-53 (La. 2008) (Arceneaux II) wherein the Louisiana Court of Appeals held that an insurer waives all coverage defenses when it defends its policyholder without any reservation of rights. In Globecon Group LLC v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co., 434 F.3d 165 (2d Cir. 2006), Mr. Epstein argued successfully for the reversal of a trial court’s ruling that a policyholder’s assignment of insurance rights violated the insurance policy’s anti-assignment clause. Along with John Fried, he successfully tried a pollution insurance coverage case reported at MetLife Capital Corp. v. Westchester Fire Ins. Co., 224 F.Supp.2d 374 (D.P.R. 2002). He also successfully opposed an insurance company’s attempt to compel arbitration of an insurance coverage dispute. National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pa. v. GE Betz, Inc., 786 N.Y.S.2d 54 (N.Y. App. Div., 1st Dep’t, Sep’t 2004), appeal denied, 803 N.Y.S.2d 28 (N.Y. 2005).

Mr. Epstein has also represented amici curiae before various State Supreme Courts. For example, in TRB Investments v. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co., 145 P.12d 472 (Cal. 2006), the Supreme Court of California adopted the position advanced on behalf of the firm's client in holding that the “construction exception” to a first party property insurance policy applied to renovations as well as to new construction. He also appeared before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in J.H. France Refractories Co. v. Allstate Ins. Co., 626 A.2d 502 (Pa. 1993), which adopted a continuous trigger of coverage and held that each insurance company on the risk during a continuous course of injury is jointly and severally liable to its policyholder, and before the Missouri Supreme Court in Farmland Industries, Inc. v. Republic Ins. Co., 941 S.W.2d 505 (Mo. banc. 1997), which held that environmental clean up costs are insured damages. Mr. Epstein also represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as amicus curiae, in two cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Federal Ins. Co. v. Susquehanna Broadcasting Co., 928 F.2d 1131 (3d Cir. 1991); Armotek Industries Inc. v. Employers Ins. of Wausau, 952 F.2d 756 (3d Cir. 1991).

Mr. Epstein is the co-author of “Re-examining Business Interruption Insurance,” Risk Management Magazine (Feb. 2002). He is also a frequent lecturer on a wide variety of insurance and litigation topics, including: “‘E’ Is For Discovery: Negotiating The Morass of Electronic Discovery” (RIMS 2010); “Three’s Company: Adventures In The Tripartite Relationship” (RIMS 2010); “Double Trouble: Property Insurance and Concurrent Causation” (RIMS 2004); “Taming The Mass Tort Beast” (RIMS 2004); and “Business Interruption: Lessons Learned at Ground Zero (RIMS 2003).

He is admitted to practice before the state and federal courts of Pennsylvania and New York and is a member of the American, Pennsylvania and New York Bar Associations.

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Practice Areas

Criminal Defense / Employment Litigation / General Litigation / Insurance Coverage Litigation & Counseling

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