Kenneth H Frenchman

Practice Areas

Recognized as one of the nation’s top insurance coverage lawyers, Kenneth Frenchman has significant experience in insurance coverage litigation and counseling clients on insurance-related issues. He has secured settlements with prominent property and casualty insurers worldwide, recovering more than $4 billion for his clients. Representing policyholders of all sizes, Ken advocates for clients in litigation and arbitrations for damages and declaratory relief because of insurance companies’ breach of contract, bad faith, attempted rescission of policies, and other actions. His practice spans matters involving professional liability, representations and warranties, asbestos, toxic torts, environmental property damage, directors/officers, errors and omissions, sexual abuse, business interruption, intellectual property, crime, and employment.

Ken recently secured a landmark victory for Genworth, a financial, retirement, and life insurance company, in a coverage dispute over class action suits arising out of the sale of its long-term care insurance policies. After securing settlements with multiple insurers in the tower, Ken won at the Delaware Superior Court and secured an affirmance from the Delaware Supreme Court, entitling Genworth to recover more than $100 million in total coverage from its professional liability carriers.

Career

Before founding Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna, Ken practiced at McKool Smith, Kasowitz, and Dickstein Shapiro.

Awards

Work Highlights

In a significant win for New Jersey Transit, Ken secured a victory in New Jersey Supreme Court allowing his client to access up to $400 million in insurance coverage from a group of carriers to make much-needed repairs to its property following Superstorm Sandy. He also won summary judgment rulings for Energy Transfer Corp., the operator of the Revolution Pipeline in Pennsylvania, which led to a settlement with more than a dozen insurers in connection with its business interruption claim stemming from a pipeline that separated and caught fire in 2019.

Ken also represented Philadelphia Energy Solutions in connection with a series of explosions and a fire in the alkylation unit of the PES oil refinery in 2019 which forced PES to file for bankruptcy approximately one month later. In an adversary proceeding in the District of Delaware filed against more than two dozen of PES’s property insurers for more than $1 billion, Ken led his team to victory on all three legal issues presented to the Court for summary judgment prior to trial. On day three of trial, the case favorably settled for a confidential amount that exceeded what PES had demanded for its property damage claim during the failed adjustment process.

Education

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Ken is admitted to practice before the following courts:

• U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit

• U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit

• U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit

• U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit

• U.S. District Court, District of Colorado

• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York

• U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

• U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York