Greg Van Houten

Select Victories for Corporate Plaintiffs in Insurance Recovery Litigation

• Recovered full policy limit and attorneys’ fees for publicly traded oil and gas company, after depositions and successful motions practice in Oklahoma state court.
• Recovered full primary and excess-level policy limits and attorneys’ fees for multinational medical laboratory after depositions and summary judgment victory in Texas federal court.
• Settled bet-the-company litigation, with 100% insurance funding, after prevailing at summary judgment on the insurer’s duty to defend in Washington federal court.
• Penned successful appellate brief in Certain Underwriters v. BioEnergy, 115 N.Y.S.3d 240 (1st Dep’t 2019), where New York appellate court held insured could recover excess of policy limits because of insurer’s breach of contract.

Select Advice and Counsel Representations, Insurance Renewals

• Achieved several meaningful policy wording changes in D&O and E&O/Media/Cyber policy towers for publicly traded media tech company, during 2024 renewal cycle.

Select Advice and Counsel Representations, Insurance-Related M&A Transactions

• Represented publicly traded industrial manufacturing company in its successful divestiture of its legacy asbestos liabilities, which hinged on a $143.5 million insurance recovery.

• Statesmen College Preparatory Academy for Boys (Washington, DC), Board Member/Secretary
• American Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division, Member
• American Bar Association, Tort Trial and Insurance Practice, Member

• Selected as 2024 American Bar Association On the Rise - Top 40 Young Lawyer
• Included in the "Ones to Watch" category of Best Lawyers in America, Woodward/White, Inc., 2022-2025
• Named a "Rising Star" in Insurance Coverage and Business Litigation by Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters, 2019-2024
• Recipient of Outstanding 2023 Achievement Award from Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (WLC)

• "Policyholder Advocate’s Insurance Coverage Playbook", panelist, Strafford, September 24, 2024
• "A Year In: Navigating SEC Cyber Rules and Increased Liability for Senior Executives and the Board," panelist, Thomson Reuters West LegalEdcenter, May 22, 2024.
• Founder of the Policyholder Playbook.
• Quoted in article covering North Carolina Supreme Court case on the duty to defend, Law360, February 20, 2024.
• Podcast guest to discuss recent cyber insurance developments on “Hacker and the Fed,” NAXO, December 12, 2023.
• “SEC’s cyber disclosure rules: key considerations for the board, C-suite and risk managers,” co-author, Cybersecurity Dive, November 27, 2023.
• Podcast guest to discuss SEC cybersecurity disclosure rules and insurance complications, Insurance Journal, September 13, 2023.
• “Not all wind turbine insurance coverage is the same,” author, Renewable Energy World, May 26, 2022.
• “Be Like Mike and Look to Fundamentals to Recover COVID-19 Losses,” co-author, Claims Journal, May 29, 2020.
• “New York COVID-19 Insurance Claims Must be Paid Promptly,” co-author, Law360, April 10, 2020.
• “Insurance Cases Illuminate Business Interruption Disputes,” co-author, Law360, October 9, 2019.
• "When Drafting a Pleading Against Your Insurer in New York, Consider Consequential Damages," co-author, New York Law Journal, June 25, 2019.
• "Refuting Insurer Denials Linked to Employee Misconduct," author, Law360, April 24, 2018.
• "Testing Congress' Foreign Commerce and Treaty Powers," author, American Criminal Law Review, 2016.