Alexander M. Sugzda

• Lead counsel to ArcLight Energy Partners in its pursuit of insurance coverage under a contractor’s pollution liability policy for defense and settlement costs incurred related to class action litigation concerning alleged pollution incidents at a major oil refinery. In litigation pending in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware, led early summary judgment briefing that resulted in a decision that the insurer had a duty to defend ArcLight issued within five months of the commencement of litigation.
• Representation of Institutional Venture Partners and one of its principals seeking coverage for a significant settlement entered in securities litigation in Delaware Chancery Court. After prevailing in a forum battle concerning whether coverage litigation would take place in California or Delaware, the matter settled on favorable terms.
• Lead counsel for CBE Companies in its pursuit of coverage for defense and settlement costs incurred in an indemnification action with a major client. After the insurer withdrew the full defense it was providing CBE and only contributed an arbitrary fraction of the settlement amount, CBE filed suit in Delaware state court and then immediately reached a favorable settlement with the insurer at mediation.
• Lead counsel to Thor Equities LLC in securing a first big win for insurance-coverage policyholders in a COVID-19 case. The New York federal court held that Thor’s interpretation of the contamination exclusion in its policy (which also appeared in many other FM Global policies), that it applies only to costs (and not losses), is reasonable and is entitled to further discovery.
• Representation of Philadelphia Energy Solutions and the PES Liquidating Trust in connection with a series of explosions and a fire in the alkylation unit of the PES oil refinery in 2019 that 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, Alex took more than a dozen depositions of insurer witnesses located around the world and was part of the team that won on all three legal issues presented to the Court for summary judgment prior to trial.  These summary judgment wins ensured PES more than $100 million more than the insurers had paid to that point on its property damage claim.  Alex also worked closely with PES’s expert witnesses and argued motions on which PES prevailed concerning the admissibility of expert testimony.  The case then proceeded to trial on the covered value of PES’s property damage claim and its bad faith claim (as the business interruption portion of the case was already successfully settled).  The two-week trial, in which Alex played a key role preparing PES’s opening statement and preparing witness examinations, was favorably settled on Day 3 for a confidential amount that exceeded what PES had demanded for its property damage claim during the failed adjustment process.
• Representing former shareholders of a privately held corporation based in Mexico City in a confidential arbitration against an insurer in connection with a claim under a Seller-Side Representation and Warranties Insurance Policy. In December 2018, after a four-day hearing before a panel of three arbitrators during which Alex examined multiple witnesses, the panel unanimously found for the policyholder and ordered that the insurer must pay nearly $10 million, which was the overwhelming majority of its claim.
• Representing NJ Transit Corporation in connection with its claim for coverage under all-risk property insurance policies for water damage to its property arising out of Hurricane Sandy over and above the $100 million flood sublimit in the policies. Alex took several depositions of insurer witnesses and was part of the team—including arguing part of the motions in the trial court—that won a summary judgment ruling that NJ Transit was entitled to access the full $400 million of its policies for its devastating losses.  The team then secured affirmance of that trial court ruling at the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, and the New Jersey Supreme Court.
• Representing a corporate policyholder in a confidential arbitration against an insurer for water damage arising out of Hurricane Sandy. In January 2017 Alex took part in a nine-day hearing before a panel of three arbitrators, which resulted in a unanimous decision for the policyholder that the insurer must pay the full extent of the policyholder’s claim up to the policy’s $17.5 million
• Representing Medidata Solutions Inc. in securing a summary judgment ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York allowing Medidata to access coverage under a Federal Insurance Co. commercial crime insurance policy for a loss that the company suffered as a result of a computer fraud incident. The decision was one of the first involving coverage for email “spoofing,” a threat faced by many companies, in which fraudulent transfers of money are induced by emails to employees that appear to be from the email accounts of senior company officers, but are sent by the perpetrators of the fraud with replies routed back to accounts that the perpetrators control.  Alex took the depositions of the insurer witnesses in discovery and played a key role in drafting the summary judgment motion that was decided in Medidata’s favor.
• Representing FranConnect LLC in pursuing coverage for a wire transfer fraud involving spoofed emails, acting as lead counsel, Alex defeated the insurer’s motion to dismiss FranConnect’s bad faith cause of action. Following that decision, the case reached a settlement.
• Representing RSE Markets, Inc., operator of the Rally Road platform for buying and selling equity shares in collectible assets, in seeking coverage for costs incurred associated with a confidential government investigation under a private equity liability insurance policy. Following the filing of early dispositive motions, the case settled on favorable terms.

Law clerk-extern for Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr. in the Supreme Court of Virginia

• Named to Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under List, 2022 - 2024
• New York Metro Super Lawyers “Rising Star”- Insurance Coverage, 2023
• Ranked a "Rising Star" by Super Lawyers (2018-2020)

• Note, You’re Under Arrest – Say Ah: Suggestions for Legislatures Drafting Statutes Allowing for DNA Extraction from Arrestees, 70 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1433