Career
As leader of Calfee's insurance recovery practice, James Sullivan counsels corporate insurance policyholders on insurance coverage issues and litigates insurance coverage disputes. He also litigates and helps resolve clients’ general business disputes.
James’ primary focus is providing insurance coverage services to closely held and publicly traded corporate policyholders on a variety of matters, including:
- Litigating insurance policy and bad-faith claims
- Advising clients when buying insurance policies
- Making recommendations about clients' existing insurance programs
- Supporting M&A transactions, including with respect to representations and warranties insurance and due diligence.
James has litigated in many Ohio appeals and trial courts, as well as numerous federal trial and appeals courts.
James is one of 23 Ohio lawyers certified as insurance law specialists by the Ohio State Bar Association. He is a member of the American College of Coverage Counsel (ACCC). Multiple times he has served as an expert witness on insurance coverage issues.
James received the 2022 Respected Advocate Award from the Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys (OACTA).
James joined Calfee in 2001 and was elected Partner in 2010. James serves on the firm's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. He also serves as a formal and informal mentor to other Calfee attorneys.
James was elected to Calfee's Management Committee in 2023.
Experience
Insurance Policyholder Recovery and Counseling Services:
James has been litigating on behalf of and counseling insurance policyholders on coverage matters since 2004. James’s practice is wholly devoted to representing policyholders. He has experience with a wide array of insurance policy types, including the following:
- Commercial general liability (CGL) (including for long-tail claims like asbestos and environmental)
- Umbrella
- Excess
- Property
- Business interruption (including business income and extra expense)
- Directors & officers (D&O)
- Side-A excess
- Difference in conditions (DIC)
- Professional services
- Errors & omissions (E&O)
- Tail & nose coverages
- Discontinued operations
- Fiduciary/employee benefits
- Trustee
- Employment practices (EPL)
- Stop-gap
- Captive
- Risk retention group (RRG)
- Representations and warranties (RWI)
- Pollution legal liability (PLL)
- Environmental liability
- Contingent liability
- Products/completed operations
- Contractor
- Contract liability
- Business credit
- Tax indemnity
- Medical malpractice
- Legal malpractice
- Employed lawyers
- Public entity
- Educators legal liability (ELL)
- Cyber (first-party + third-party)
- Business crime
- Employee theft
- Fidelity bond
- Sexual misconduct & molestation
- Surety
- Liquor
- Fine art
- Aviation
- Commercial auto
- Equipment breakdown
- Event cancellation
- Business trip interruption
- Special events
- Parametric/index-based
Representative sample of recent services James has provided to insurance policyholder clients:
2022-2024 – Obtained $110 million federal court judgment with respect to bodily injury and property damage claims against Ohio-based medical sterilization company, with Law360 publication designating the matter as one of most important insurance coverage lawsuits pending in the U.S.
2023 – Assisted Calfee insurance policyholder Partner Matt Chiricosta with Ohio Supreme Court amicus brief for Ohio Manufacturers Association that was joined by 10 of Ohio’s largest manufacturers.
2024 – Representing university in insurance coverage claims for NCAA concussion litigation.
2024 – Serving as an arbitrator for insurance coverage dispute between medical equipment company and its CGL insurers.
2023-2024 – Pursuing coverage from various lines of insurance for defense and indemnification of various third-party claims against Ohio window manufacturer collectively valued at over $50 million.
2023-2024 – Litigating federal and state insurance lawsuits on behalf of municipality for a $45 million wrongful imprisonment jury verdict.
2023 – Assisted Berkshire Hathaway portfolio entity with insurance coverage assessment pertaining to alleged third-party losses sustained in significant European facility accident.
2023-2024 – Litigating federal insurance lawsuit regarding failure of insurance company to provide coverage for nationwide product recall by publicly traded food manufacturer.
2023-2024 – Counseling Ohio-based construction goods manufacturer regarding insurance coverage for ransomware attack that halted production lines at all 11 worldwide manufacturing facilities, including navigation of high self-insured retention, post-retention coinsurance issues, multiple insurer risk-sharing allocation, and resulting class-action lawsuit.
2024 – Over the past decade through the present, regularly counseling and litigating on behalf of various clients suffering natural disaster-related losses, including from hurricanes, floods, winter storms, power outages, earth movement, and fires.
2022-2024 – Negotiating multiple climate-related property and business interruption losses for a Fortune 500 commercial apparel service company against its insurers that have failed to fully honor their coverage obligations.
2022-2024 – Litigated $6 million-plus insurance broker malpractice claim on behalf of contract provider of physician and health care services.
2022 – Served as insurance coverage litigation expert for forensic consultant in lawsuit by insurer regarding that consultant’s services previously performed on the insurer's behalf.
2022-2023 – Provided general insurance coverage counseling to rapid-growth multi-state residential apartment developer and manager, including with respect to renewals of various insurance policy lines.
2022 – Advised publicly traded advisory services client on late-notice dispute with high-level excess insurer regarding losses exceeding $5 million.
2022 – Advised health system captive with respect to reinsurance claim pertaining to $25 million loss.
2022 – Counseled an internationally owned sporting goods company with respect to cyber coverage claim for federal intelligence agency investigation regarding theft of thousands of customer credit cards numbers.
2021-2024 – Pursuing a business interruption and property loss insurance claim on behalf of retail bakery vandalized and looted in 2020 rioting following a civil rights protest.
2021-2024 – Litigated on behalf of nursing home client to overcome denial of coverage and efforts to rescind policy in light of operational disruptions resulting from COVID-19 governmental shutdown orders.
2021-2024 – Counseling manufacturer of consumer goods on ocean cargo insurance policy claim to obtain millions in coverage for cargo spoiled due to lengthy delays resulting from worldwide shipping crisis.
2020-2024 – Representing religious organization with respect to insurance coverage for multiple third-party lawsuits collectively seeking tens of millions of dollars, including matter that has evolved into federal insurance coverage lawsuit.
2020-2024 – Advocated for numerous policyholder clients with respect to COVID-19 business interruption losses under commercial property insurance policies, including for National Football League (NFL), Major League Soccer (MLS), state universities, health systems, restaurants, and hospitality entities, among others.
2020-2022 – Litigated long-tail environmental insurance coverage disputes, including federal lawsuit, on behalf of privately held fluid system products manufacturer with respect to historical insurance program with limits totaling in excess of $100 million.
2020-2021 – Represented private equity fund and platform company in connection with securing representations and warranties (RWI) and employment practices liability (EPL) insurance coverage for a class action involving international plaintiffs.
2020 – Designed and implemented D&O strategy to assist client in efforts to collect $1 million-plus judgment against otherwise uncollectible entity.
2019-2021 – Litigated to settlement two related lawsuits in Ohio and Nebraska federal courts seeking to recover from various insurers (including a fidelity bond issuer) over $24 million in losses stemming from an alleged Ponzi scheme.
2019-2022 – Represented sports turf manufacturer and installer in insurance coverage litigation and settlement negotiations pertaining to cancelation of 2016 NFL Hall of Fame football game at Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
2019-2021 – Advocated on behalf of hospital health system to recover D&O insurance proceeds to indemnify against multi-million settlements.
2019-2024 – Assisting publicly traded health care client with development and implementation of strategies to recover in excess of $20 million from insurance companies for nationwide environmental claims asserted by regulatory agencies and individual claimants.
2019-2021 – Litigated and settled additional insured rights and contractual indemnification rights on behalf of publicly traded power company against national service provider pertaining to bodily injury claim seeking tens of millions of dollars.
2019-2020 – Advised seller client on preserving rights to insurance assets for pending third-party claim posing existential threat to M&A transaction acquisition target.
