Hoke LLC represented a national trust company in a dispute regarding whether the client had insurance under its Directors’ & Officers’ and Bankers Professional Liability policy for suits brought by underlying plaintiffs claiming they were victims of a $100M Ponzi scheme that was featured on American Greed. The coverage litigation involved claims against the insurer for declaratory relief, breach of... Read More

Obtained insurance coverage for the successful settlement of two underlying class actions for: 1) an EU-based manufacturer sued in the U.S. for the sale of 1,000,000 allegedly dangerous and defective vehicles from a complicated international insurance program with substantial SIR and captive components; and 2) a national food distributor prominently accused in the media of systematic racial discrimination... Read More

Hoke LLC was retained by a large publicly traded client after its ERISA claim for benefits was completely denied by its EBL insurer. After making a novel argument that the policy benefits exclusion did not apply, Hoke LLC was able to secure agreement from the carrier to fund the majority of a settlement of the underlying ERISA claim all... Read More

Representing a major asbestos defendant, Steve assisted in securing access to approximately $1.8B in insurance proceeds either collected or committed. This includes recovery from both solvent and insolvent insurers, including some select policy commutations. He secured several significant legal rulings in a related coverage action, including a novel first-of-its-kind “cost-in-addition” recovery from excess insurers and a finding that overseas... Read More

Steve Hoke was retained by a Fortune 500 company to direct the annual multi-line renewal when the Risk Manager left unexpectedly before year-end. He supervised the placement of the D & O, General Liability, general FinPro and other relevant coverages. Read More

Our policyholder client was sued claiming an important new product it recently launched was based on trade secrets belonging to another company.  The plaintiff-claimant alleged that one of its former employees had been hired by our client and that the idea and design of our client’s new product was a trade secret developed during his employment with the claimant. ... Read More

The client, a large international manufacturer, was a defendant in a high-value commercial dispute regarding the alleged failure of its emergency shut-down component incorporated into the engine of a naval vessel purchased by a foreign government. We assisted the client in securing a defense from the primary carrier.  After 10 years of litigation, the case settled for a substantial... Read More

Steve spoke at the 2017 Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Seminar on March 2, 2017 in Tucson, Arizona.  His panel was titled: “Is Talc the New Asbestos?  Will the History of Asbestos and Silica Impact the Answer to That Question?”   Read More

“Availability Rule’s Death Has Been Greatly Exaggerated,” Jacob Mihm, Law360, January 26, 2017. “The Two Very Different Types of Cosmetic Talc Claims,” Stephen Hoke, Insurance Law360 and ProductsLiability360, December 9, 2016. “Rewriting History:  Boston Gas and Keyspan,” Jacob Mihm, Law360, October 6, 2016. Read More