Insights

Washington – July 8, 2026: Steve Raptis, a Chambers-ranked insurance recovery attorney with more than 30 years of experience representing policyholders, has joined Crowell & Moring as a partner in Washington, D.C., further bolstering the firm’s growing insurance recovery practice. Raptis’s arrival enhances the firm’s robust capabilities in representing policyholder clients in complex and high-stakes insurance disputes.

Washington – June 4, 2026: Crowell & Moring earned 92 individual rankings for 81 attorneys, as well as 48 national and statewide practice area rankings, in the Chambers USA 2026 guide. The Chambers guide ranks the country’s top law firms and lawyers through in-depth research, client interviews, and feedback from attorneys at peer firms. 

Washington – August 20, 2025: The 2026 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 44 Crowell & Moring lawyers as "Best Lawyers." 

On April 30, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a significant ruling in an insurance coverage dispute between a commercial general liability insurer and its policyholder. The decision addresses several critical issues in insurance law, including the scope and continuity of the duty to defend and the standard for insurer reimbursement of defense costs in mixed-claim actions. The court ruled largely in favor of the insured, SVO Building One, LLC ("SVO"), and the matter now heads toward settlement or trial on SVO's remaining counterclaims.

In Wake Chapel Church, Inc. v. Church Mutual Insurance Company, the Fourth Circuit affirmed a $1.1 million jury verdict in favor of a policyholder, reaffirming that under North Carolina law insurers cannot defeat all-risk coverage by pointing to a postulated inherent defect or other excluded cause if a covered peril also contributed to the loss.

Because effective Directors & Officers insurance (D&O) is becoming even more important for companies and their leaders, particularly for peace of mind and financial soundness in our highly litigious society, we provide this coverage alert.