James A. Kitces

Insurance clients turn to James when they need highly skilled counsel to handle complex, high-stakes first-party property, third-party liability, and reinsurance coverage matters. Clients often say they deeply appreciate working with James because of his meticulous attention to detail, his willingness to go the extra mile, and his responsiveness. James thoroughly enjoys dissecting insurance policies, solving complex problems, and most of all, winning. James was drawn to Robins Kaplan because of the firm’s stellar reputation for obtaining pioneering court decisions in his practice area.

Insurance and Reinsurance Litigation and Counsel

James has regularly secured favorable results for clients. James’s insurance practice varies, and he has experience representing clients in matters involving:

First-party property coverage: James represents clients in property and business interruption litigation arising from fire, explosion, flood, hurricane, mold, construction and design defect, and bad faith claims.

Third-party liability coverage: James represents clients in a variety of third-party liability disputes, including construction defect, intellectual property, and mass torts.

Subrogation: James maintains an active subrogation practice and he has secured a number of multi-million-dollar recoveries for clients.

Reinsurance: Before joining Robins Kaplan LLP, James focused on insurance-reinsurance dispute resolution at a national law firm. He has continued this work at Robins Kaplan, advising large international reinsurers on coverage issues, potential litigation, and reinsurance claims.

Arbitration: James represents insurance clients in arbitration proceedings. For example, an international insurance client was prematurely forced to arbitrate a dispute concerning a large, sophisticated construction matter. While the adversary attempted to rush to trial, James and his team proceeded to arbitration, marshalled a tremendous amount of evidence, and through careful and strategic preparation of the fact and expert witnesses, the client won in resounding fashion.

Education

• University of Texas School of Law, J.D. (2001)
• Emory University, B.A. (1998)

Representative Matters

The Illinois Appeals Court (First District) upheld dismissal of a multi-million dollar business interruption lawsuit against our client arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The court found that, as a matter of law, the actual presence of the COVID-19 virus on property does not cause direct physical loss or damage. (Transform Holdco LLC v. Ironshore Specialty Insurance Company, et al).

Obtained settlements for insurer and paper mill in subrogation litigation concerning an explosion in Maine with losses of more than $350 million.

Obtained successful award for insurer in Massachusetts insurance Reference proceeding regarding a builder’s risk claim.

Obtained dismissal of a class action in Oregon litigation regarding coverage for Covid-19 business interruption. (North Pacific v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company (D. Or. Sept. 7, 2021)).

Obtained dismissal of litigation in Massachusetts regarding coverage for Covid-19 business interruption. (United Textile v. Lloyds’s Underwriters (Ma. Super. Sept. 28, 2021)).

Obtained summary judgment for insurer in Massachusetts concerning a claim for storm damage. (Lakeshore v. Affiliated FM Insurance Company (Ma. Super. Oct. 26, 2021)).

Represented Liberty Mutual in a coverage dispute involving a sewage backup that damaged an insured’s home in Maine. The case, which included bad faith claims, concerned a water damage exclusion that used the phrase “escape or overflow” in lieu of the more common “backup”. Such an exclusion had not yet been interpreted by any court in the nation. The U.S. District Court, District of Maine, granted summary judgment in favor of our client on all claims. (Pinkham v. Liberty Insurance Corporation (D. Me. May 7, 2019)).

Represented the State of Georgia and the Georgia Ports Authority in an action to recover for the destruction of a large gantry crane and other damages. The Georgia Ports Authority sustained severe property damage when its crane tipped over as stevedores were using the crane to unload cargo from a ship in Savannah. The Ports Authority’s cranes are essential to the functioning of the State’s ports. The litigation involved complex issues of maritime law and multiple appeals. The case concluded successfully for our clients in 2013.

Obtained dismissal of the plaintiff’s $39 million business interruption insurance claim based on the plaintiff’s destruction of electronic documents and other discovery misconduct. The Court also ordered an adverse inference instruction against the plaintiff and attorneys' fees to our client. (Felman Prod. v. Indus. Risk Insurers, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112161 (S.D. W. Va. Sept. 29, 2011)).

Obtained summary dismissal of the plaintiff's $39 million business interruption insurance claim for failure to prove an actual loss of income. The Court stated: "In support of their motion, Defendants filed a detailed, annotated Statement of Facts, a painstaking examination of the hundreds of documents and lengthy depositions the parties have assembled through discovery. . . . Mindful that the evidence must be taken in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff, the Court reaches this conclusion somewhat surprised, but nonetheless certain, that the uncontroverted evidence produced through discovery and identified in the Statement of Facts obliterates Plaintiff's claim of actual loss." (Felman Prod. v. Indus. Risk Insurers, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112156 (S.D. W. Va. Sept. 29, 2011)).

Obtained summary judgment for insurers in Georgia bad faith case involving equipment breakdown claim for industrial machinery.

Obtained summary judgment for state trooper in Georgia catastrophic injury case. (Prior to joining Robins Kaplan LLP)

Obtained summary judgment for reinsurer in Georgia case involving ERISA claims. (Prior to joining Robins Kaplan LLP)

• Named a "Leading Practitioner in Insurance," Chambers USA (2024)
• Named a “Massachusetts Super Lawyer,” Super Lawyers (2020)
• Named a "Georgia Super Lawyer," Super Lawyers (2020)
• Named a "Georgia Rising Star," Super Lawyers (2009, 2014-2016)
• Recipient of the “Glenda Hatchett Volunteer of the Year Award,” Truancy Intervention Project of Georgia (2013)

Civic

• Atlanta Pro Bono Roundtable
• Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation
• Insurance Practice Group Community Service Event
• Temple Emanuel, Board of Governors
• The Galloway School and The Temple, Volunteer
• Truancy Intervention Project Georgia, Inc., Board of Directors

Professional

• American Bar Association, Property Insurance Law Committee and Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee
• Atlanta Pro Bono Roundtable
• Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation
• Atlanta Bar Association
• Boston Bar Association
• Massachusetts Insurance and Reinsurance Bar Association, Board of Directors
• Southern Loss Association
• State Bar of Georgia, Litigation Committee

Speeches

• Property Case Law Developments: Commercial Lines
  Property & Liability Resource Bureau 2024 Claims Conference, Boston, Massachusetts (March 17-20, 2024)
• Property Case Law Developments: Commercial Lines
  Property & Liability Resource Bureau 2023 Claims Conference, Orlando, Florida (March 21-22, 2023)
• Property Case Law Developments: Commercial Lines
  PLRB Claims Conference and Insurance Services Expo, San Antonio, Texas (April 5 and 6, 2022)
• The Property Case Law Update
  Loss Executives Association June Webinar Series (June 2, 2021)
• The Property Case Law Update
  Loss Executives Association 89th Annual Meeting and Mid-Winter Educational Program, Fort Lauderdale, Florida (January 16, 2020)
• De Risk Business Process Automation
  Genus Technologies, Webinar (April 25, 2019)
• 2019 Property Case Developments Commercial Lines
  PLRB (Property & Liability Research Bureau) Claims Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana (March 31, 2019)
• Recent Property Case Law Update
  PLRB 2018 Regional Adjusters Conference, Hartford, Connecticut (October 30, 2018)
• Property Case Law Developments 2017
  PLRB Claims Conference and Insurance Services Expo, Orlando, Florida (April 15, 2018)
• First-Party Bad Faith in the Southeast States
  Southeastern Claim Executives Association, St. Augustine, Florida (April 20, 2009)
• Suing the Inspector/Designer: Legal Theories and Protections
  Society of Fire Protection Engineers Greater Atlanta Chapter (March 18, 2008)

Media Mentions

• "How I Made Office Managing Partner: 'Take Advantage of the Learning and Networking Opportunities,' Says James Kitces of Robins Kaplan," Law.com (October 25, 2024)
• "Meet the New Managing Partner: James Kitces, Robins Kaplan," Boston Bar Association (May 21, 2024)