David F Cutter

Practice Areas

David Cutter focuses his practice on representing insurers in coverage disputes. David has a diverse practice, handling disputes across numerous product lines, including management liability, professional liability, commercial general liability, commercial transportation, and property coverages.

David also litigates commercial matters across a variety of subject areas involving contracts, business torts, securities, and professional liability.

David has a nationwide litigation practice. In the last three years alone, David has served as lead counsel in state and federal courts in nearly twenty states, as well as several domestic and international arbitrations.

As David is known to say, litigation should be used as a tool to resolve disputes. Clients appreciate this perspective, as well as David’s ability to creatively use litigation to move matters towards resolution. When matters are not amenable to a compromise, however, David’s breadth of experience enables him to efficiently obtain favorable results for clients.

While much of David’s practice involves litigation, David also provides insurers advice in a monitoring role for claims involving complex underlying matters and coverage issues. In that capacity, David helps his clients understand their coverage, defense, and settlement obligations, assists with the evaluation of underlying exposures, and develops unique strategies for closing claims.

Career

David joined BatesCarey in July 2019 from Clyde & Co as a partner at the firm. He is admitted to practice in Illinois, District of Columbia, Maryland and numerous federal courts, including the Trial Bar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Professional Memberships

• James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy, Board Member

• Women Helping Others, Inc. (Co-Founder and Board Member)

• Noah’s Playground for Everyone Committee, Co-Chair

• Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation Chesed Committee

• Youth and Opportunity United, Inc., Former Board Member

Personal

Learn more: https://www.batescarey.com/attorneys/david-f-cutter/.

Work Highlights

David litigates coverage disputes throughout the country and across all coverage lines. For example, in the last year, David has litigated numerous security claim coverage disputes in New York and Delaware, an insured versus insured dispute in California, a bad faith claim in Oklahoma, pollution and business tort coverage disputes in Indiana, coverage for claims for numerous basement floods in Michigan, and matters involving first-party property, covid-related closures, psychiatric malpractice, and business torts in Illinois. David has also recently handled several confidential arbitrations, including matters addressing coverage for a statutory appraisal action, for wildfire-related securities claims, and an insurer E&O matter that concluded with a contested arbitration hearing.

In recent years, David has achieved several significant victories for clients, including prevailing in four appeals that he argued and numerous trial court victories as reflected in the following examples:

• Rimini St., In. v. AXIS Ins. Co., 2022 WL 17487749 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 7, 2022) (granting motion to dismiss based upon application of prior or pending litigation exclusion).

• Alain Dery v. Aviva Ins. Co. of Canada, No. 49D01-2202-PL-004720 (Ind. Comm. Ct. October 17, 2022) (granting motion to dismiss action against Canadian insurers due to a lack of personal jurisdiction).

• Arch Ins. Co. v. PCH Mgmt. Alpha, LLC, No. 2018-L-012681 (Ill. Cir. Ct. Apr. 28, 2022) (granting motion for judgment on the pleadings finding that the claim was interrelated to a claim made in a prior policy period and not reported and prior or pending litigation exclusion barred coverage).

• Hanover Is. Co. v. R.W. Dunteman Co., 51 F. 4th 779, 782 (7th Cir. 2022) (coverage unavailable under management liability policy because claim was made in first of two successive policy period but not reported until the second policy period).

• Hanover Ins. Co. v. MRC Polymers, Inc., 2020 IL App (1st) 192337 (affirming application of products and liability services exclusion to bar coverage).

• XL Specialty Ins. Co. v. AR Capital, 181 A.D.3d 546, 121 N.Y.S.3d 269, 270 (2020) (affirming denial of motion to dismiss action in lieu of competing Delaware action).

• RLI Ins. Co. v. Acclaim Res. Partners, LLC, 2020 IL App (4th) 190757-U (affirming finding that contractual fee dispute did not trigger coverage because there was no “wrongful act”).

• Morris v. Arch Ins. Co., 2022 WL 507474 (S.D. Ill. Feb. 18, 2022) (granting summary judgment in favor of insurer finding no available UIM coverage).

• XL Specialty Ins. Co. v. AR Capital, LLC, 2021 WL 353853 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Feb. 02, 2021) (granting insurers summary judgment finding no coverage for securities claims).

• AR Capital, LLC v. XL Specialty Ins. Co., 2020 WL 4907990 (Del. Super. Ct. Aug. 3, 2020) (granting motion to stay Delaware action in lieu of competing New York action).

• U.S. Specialty Ins. Co. v. Vill. of Melrose Park, 455 F. Supp. 3d 681 (N.D. Ill. 2020) (finding prior and pending litigation exclusion barred coverage).

• Hanover Ins. Co. v. R.W. Dunteman Co., 446 F. Supp. 3d 336, 338 (N.D. Ill. 2020) (finding coverage unavailable due to untimely reporting of claim).

Education

Awards