Overview
Mr. Leimkuhler has a broad commercial litigation and arbitration practice focusing primarily on complex insurance and reinsurance coverage issues and securities disputes. His practice encompasses counseling as well as litigation and appellate work before federal and state courts and arbitration panels. For nearly 25 years he has represented London Market and North American insurers and reinsurers on a wide variety of coverage matters. Through his representation of insurers on pollution claims, Mr. Leimkuhler has developed substantial expertise investigating historical environmental practices and knowledge of large industrial insureds. He also has extensive experience litigating and counseling on asbestos, health hazard, pharmaceutical, professional liability, directors and officers, construction defect, property, and other claims. In addition, Mr. Leimkuhler has expertise in insurance allocation issues, and in litigating claims of misrepresentation and nondisclosure in the placement of insurance policies. In one such matter, Mr. Leimkuhler served as lead counsel for a group of insurers in a trial that secured a judgment rescinding policies and disallowing $70 million in claims. He also litigates claims of fraud or other misconduct in connection with the sale of structured financial products.
Mr. Leimkuhler has successfully litigated other matters involving allegations of fraud, breach of contract, professional negligence, interference with property rights, and discrimination in employment and public accommodations. He was co-lead counsel in a national class action on behalf of plaintiffs who alleged that they were denied equal access to health club memberships on account of race, which resulted in one of the largest settlements in a public accommodations discrimination matter.
Professional Affiliations
- District of Columbia Bar
- Law Firm Representative, Washington Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights & Urban Affairs (former)
Experience
- Associate, Wilmer Cutler & Pickering
Representative Matters
- Successfully led clients to rescission against a Fortune 100 company in a Missouri state court trial, avoiding $70 million of potential liabilities
- Conducted a three-month trial in New Jersey state court, resulting in disallowance of a policyholder’s claim for radionuclide cleanup costs and a portion of other asserted environmental response costs
- Through arbitration, secured an award of tens of millions of dollars in favor of the firm’s client against a company that had reinsured the client’s workers’ compensation and other liabilities
Publications & Events
- July 1, 2014
- July 3, 2013
- March 2013
- March 2013
- March 2012
- "London Market DRs and RDRs"
Paper submitted by Mark J. Leimkuhler for the American Conference Institute's Conference on Run-Off and Commutations (N.Y.).
November 2002
In the News
Chambers and Partners has again ranked Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss as a leading law firm in the area of insurance.
June 2022Partner Mark Leimkuhler recently spoke with Insurance Business about the new administration's approach to climate change and the implications for the insurance industry.
Insurance Business, January 20, 2021Partner Mark Leimkuhler recently spoke with Law360 about the incoming Biden administration's potential effect on property and liability insurers, predicting that the new regime's expected focus on climate change, civil rights enforcement and other areas could lead to an uptick in claims across a wide range of policies.
Law360, January 19, 2021At first blush, class actions might seem an attractive option for courts to efficiently manage the burden the claims may impose on their dockets. But below the surface, there are significant doubts that these claims are suitable for class adjudication.
New York Law Journal, June 1, 2020Jack Gordon and Mark Leimkuhler authored an article in Insurance Day discussing potential issues for reinsurers relating to the coronavirus crisis.
Insurance Day, April 22, 2020The pundits will debate whether government delays enabled the coronavirus to spread so widely. Perhaps experts and politicians failed to implement earlier, less onerous measures that could have slowed its spread and lessened its impact because the eventual scope seemed unimaginable to them. It was only after the pandemic was well underway that decision makers acted with great urgency — too late to avoid crisis and hardship.
There is a similar lesson for insurers and reinsurers: the potential for an unprecedented avalanche of COVID-19 insurance claims is clear, and the industry can and should take steps now, without waiting for specific claims and losses, to blunt the impact of the wave of claims and lawsuits that has already begun and is rapidly expanding.
Law360, April 10, 2020An amended complaint filed in Miami-Dade County alleges that Amicorp, an international trust services company, actively participated in a multi-million-dollar real estate fraud which victimized many Latin American families.
www.businesswire.com, July 3, 2019American Law Institute's Restatement of the Law, Liability Insurance incorporates a number of 'black letter' provisions that are more favourable to assureds
Insurance Day, August 2, 2018Non-US insurers with exposures to Iran-related business face a difficult six months to bring their business into compliance with US president Donald Trump’s newly reinstated snap-back sanctions
Insurance Day, May 17, 2018Recent brain studies investigating CTE create uncertainty for defendants and their insurers
Insurance Day, January 31, 2018- Changes to Iran and Cuba restrictions make business simplier for UK and European insurersInsurance Day, April 21, 2016
- Policyholders without cyber cover are looking to general liability policies to make claims in the event of data breachesInsurance Day, July 16, 2015
- US class action lawsuit alleges high-frequency traders, exchanges, brokers and dark pool operators have committed securities law violationsInsurance Day, August 21, 2014
- Law360, August 8, 2014
- Court Overturns Ruling in SEC-Citicorp SettlementInsurance Day, June 12, 2014
- Excess Coverage Denied in Latest US Court RulingInsurance Day, November 1, 2012
- Shareholder lawsuit against Barclays could become template for other legal actionsInsurance Day, August 16, 2012
- Insurance Day, July 12, 2012
- Insurance Day, June 21, 2012
- Insurance Day, April 12, 2012
- Insurance Day, March 22, 2012
- Insurance Day, February 16, 2012
- Insurance Day, February 11, 2011
Practice Areas
Education
- University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1986)
- University of Virginia (B.A. 1982)
Bar Admissions
- District of Columbia
- Pennsylvania (inactive)
- U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit