Based in Atlanta, Zachary Andrew McEntyre is an attorney with King & Spalding, LLP (K&S), who focuses on cases spanning class action corporate defense. Also knowledgeable in insurance recovery disputes, Zachary Andrew McEntyre represents corporate policyholders and maintains a close watch on developments in the legal sphere.
K&S attorneys were involved in the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) hearing, which took place in late July. The 90-minute hearing was conducted on Zoom because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and involved 15 attorneys providing insight into competing transfer petitions which were filed by two business groups in April, as they sought to ensure that losses stemming from stay-at-home orders were covered by insurance. One petition before the seven-member JPML seeks to centralize federal business interruption cases within the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, while the other seeks to have the cases centralized in the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. A participating attorney set the stage by noting that many insurers have argued that COVID-19 did not result in “direct physical loss or damage” to insured properties, with policyholders' suits thus dismissible. The insurance industry opposes the setting in place of any kind of multidistrict litigation (MDL) process, whether in Chicago or Philadelphia. The participating K&S attorney, representing 55 restaurants, theaters, and bars in lawsuits against Society Insurance Co., argued against centralization. He noted that “similar waves of insurance coverage litigation” following events such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina had been handled without an MDL process. Due to the sheer diversity of impact on businesses across the country, with various regions in different stages of reopening and various types of businesses making claims, he argued that an MDL process makes “no sense here.”
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AuthorAn experienced commercial litigator, Zachary Andrew McEntyre currently serves as a senior associate in King & Spalding’s Atlanta. Archives
January 2018
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