Robert M. Sullivan

Robert M. Sullivan is the principal and managing partner. He has substantial experience in complex insurance matters and focuses his practice on representing insurance agents and brokers, and their insureds, in complex insurance coverage litigation, insurance coverage, miscellaneous professional liability and insurance agency and brokerage corporate representation. He has tried a number of high exposure cases to verdict and has argued dozens of cases before all of the Appellate Divisions in New York and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Mr. Sullivan has been lead counsel in litigation in the Federal and State Courts of other jurisdictions including Alabama, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, New Jersey and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Some of his more unusual cases include the trial of an agent/broker E&O case involving hurricane losses in the United States District Court for the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as a property insurance coverage case involving damage suffered by businesses in the Republic of Panama as a result of the U.S. invasion in 1989. Mr. Sullivan began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in the Brooklyn, New York District Attorney's Office.

Mr. Sullivan has appeared as counsel in over 40 reported appellate court decisions, in both the New York State and Federal Courts. In Federal Ins. Co. v. Spectrum Ins. Brokerage Services, Inc., 304 A.D.2d 316, 758 N.Y.S.2d 21 (1st Dept. 2003), he successfully obtained dismissal of an action against an insurance brokerage by the insurer of a contractor which alleged a failure of the broker to add the contractor as an additional insured on the policy of the broker's client, a sub-contractor. The Court held that the contractor lacked privity with the broker and thus the insurer, as a subrogee, lacked standing to sue the broker. In Sutton Park Development Corp. v. Guerin and Guerin Agency, Inc., 297 A.D.2d 430, 745 N.Y.S.2d 622 (3rd Dept. 2002), he obtained dismissal of claims against an insurance broker for breach of fiduciary duty and gross negligence on the grounds that such claims are not viable in an action against an insurance broker for failure to procure insurance. In Busker on the Roof Ltd. Partnership v. M.E. Warrington, 283 A.D.2d 376, 725 N.Y.S.2d 45 (1st Dept. 2001), and M&E Manufacturing v. Frank H. Reis, Inc., 258 A.D.2d 9, 692 N.Y.S.2d 191 (3rd Dept. 1999), he obtained dismissals of actions against insurance brokers on the grounds that the brokers had no obligation to advise their insureds regarding coverage in the absence of a "special relationship". In Babalola v. Crystal Chemicals, Inc., 225 A.D.2d 370, 644 N.Y.S.2d 1 (1st Dept. 1996), he represented a chemical manufacturer and obtained dismissal of personal injury claims for inadequate labeling of a product on the grounds that the label complied with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and were pre-empted by Federal Law.

He is a member of both the New York State and American Bar Associations, including the Sections on Professional Liability and Torts, Insurance, Negligence and Compensation Law. He is also a member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS). He has lectured insurance professionals on topics relating to E&O exposure and is licensed by the New York State Insurance Department as a continuing education instructor for insurance agents and brokers. Mr. Sullivan earned his J.D. degree from St. John's University School of Law in 1981. Prior to attending law school, he served as a Lieutenant (junior grade) in the United States Navy.

Mr. Sullivan, together with David Paige, co-author a quarterly law review quality newsletter discussing insurance issues which appears in E&O Quarterly of the Professional Insurance Agents Association (PIA). In addition to their contributions to the PIA publication, Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Paige have co-authored articles in National Underwriter and the Quarterly of the Torts, Insurance and Compensation Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Mr. Sullivan is admitted to practice before all courts of the State of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second and Eleventh Circuits and the United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of New York and the District of Connecticut.

Robert M. Sullivan, Suzanne M. Saia,
Frederick M. Klein, Sara B. Feldman,and Jason J. Guiliano