Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Mike Ginsberg is a commercial trial lawyer who has concentrated his practice during the past two decades in the area of insurance coverage litigation, focusing primarily on environmental, product liability, bad faith, E&O, and D&O insurance claims. Mike also has substantial experience representing policyholders with insurance issues arising in bankruptcy settings. He has served as insurance counsel for debtors and creditors in asbestos-driven bankruptcies and has represented policyholders in insurer insolvencies proceedings. Mike has handled insurance coverage claims and lawsuits in more than 30 jurisdictions.

In addition to insurance coverage litigation, Mike practices in the area of environmental litigation. He tried the first P.R.P. arbitration under the California Superfund law and has represented clients in numerous Superfund matters. He served as liaison counsel for third-party defendants in a major Superfund case in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and was lead counsel for one of four P.R.P.s in litigation arising from a major environmental problem in Fresno, California. Although not the focus of his practice, Mike also has represented clients in product liability and personal injury cases.

Mike has written a number of articles and seminar presentations on insurance coverage topics, including first-party and third-party insurance coverage for environmental claims, the assessment of environmental liabilities for insurance coverage, and "Issues of Ripeness and Prematurity in Insurance Coverage Disputes" (presented at the 1994 ABA Convention). Mike recently completed a chapter on insurance coverage mediation in the book Insurance Law Settlements and Negotiations for Aspatore Books' series "Inside the Minds." Mike has chaired several national conferences on insurance coverage for toxic tort and environmental claims and has been a panelist at numerous other programs. In addition, he has written on the topic of alternative dispute resolution.

Mike is the Firm's Training Partner and is a member and treasurer of the board of trustees of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), the nation's leading nonprofit organization for teaching trial and other litigation skills. Mike frequently teaches litigation training programs for NITA, including NITA's National Trial Program (team leader 2006 and assistant team leader 2005), the Advanced Trial Skills Program, regional trial and deposition programs, and Emory Law School's Kessler-Eidson Program for Trial Techniques (team leader 2007).

Areas of Practice

• Insurance Liability & Recovery
• Trial Practice
• Insurance Coverage
• Insurance
• Environmental, Health & Safety
• Consumer Products & Retail
• Automotive
• Metals & Mining

Representative Cases

• American Longwall Face Conveyors, Inc. v. National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (G.D. No. 01-2205 Allegheny County Common Pleas Court)
• AMP, Inc. v. Insurance Company of North America, et al., Middle District of Pennsylvania
• Cooper Indus., Inc. v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., No. H-91-3158 (S.D. Texas)
• Employers Ins. of Wausau v. McGraw-Edison Company, Civil Case No. 91MR0256, Circuit Court of DuPage County, Illinois
• FMC Corp., et al. v. Vendo Co., et al. (E.D. Cal.)
• In re Mid-Valley, Inc., United States Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Pennsylvania
• Joy Technologies, Inc. v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 187 W. Va. 742, 421 S.E.2d 493
• Koppers Co., et al. v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., et al., 2:85-cv-2136 (W.D. Pa.), 98 F.3d 1440 (3d Cir.)
• Koppers Co., et al. v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., et al., 98 F.3d 1440 (3d Cir. 1996)
• Lincoln Electric Co. v. St. Paul Fire and Marine Ins. Co., 1998 WL 261131 (N.D. Ohio), aff'd and rev'd 210 F.3d 672 (6th Cir.)
• McGraw-Edison Company v. Employers Insurance of Wausau (DuPage Cty., Ill. Circuit Court, 18th District)
• Penn Fuel Gas, Inc. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Company, et al. (Chester Cty., Pa., Common Pleas Ct.)
• Specialty Tires of America v. CIT Group/Equipment Financing, Inc., 82 F. Supp. 2d 434 (W.D. Pa.), aff'd, slip op. (3d Cir.)
• United States v. Marvin Pesses, et al. (W.D. Pa.)
• United States v. Pesses, et al. (W.D. Pa.)
• Insurance Coverage Involving Pepsi Product Loss Due to Bad Ingredients from a Supplier
• Strategic Planning for the Disposition of Environmental Liabilities

West Practice Categories

Bankruptcy Litigation, Business & Commercial Law, Class Actions, Clean Air Practice, Cleanup & Superfund, Complex Litigation, Environmental Law, Federal Appellate Practice, Federal Claims Court, Federal Trial Practice, Hazardous Waste, Insurance Law, International Law, International Trade Litigation, Litigation & Appeals, Military & Veterans Appeals, Multidistrict Litigation, Patent Litigation, Permits, Regulatory Compliance & Auditing, Solid Waste, State Appellate Practice, State Trial Practice, Tax Litigation, US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, US Supreme Court, Water Pollution, Wetlands & Wild Lands

Bar Admissions

• Pennsylvania

Education

• Harvard University

Address

500 Grant Street, Suite 4500
Pittsburgh, PA 15219-2514

Phones

1.412.394.7919 (Business Phone)

Faxes

1.412.394.7959 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.jonesday.com