Zuckerman Spaeder LLP Attorneys Win Preliminary Injunction Requiring Insurance Carrier to Continue to Advance Legal Fees to Hedge Fund

On May 10, 2012, Zuckerman Spaeder LLP won a motion for a preliminary injunction requiring insurance carrier XL Specialty Insurance Co. to continue to advance legal fees under the professional liability policy it issued to the firm’s client, Level Global Investors LP. Level Global was represented by James Sottile and ‎Shawn P. Naunton of the firm’s New York office and P. Andrew Torrez of the Baltimore office. Mr. Sottile, a member of the firm’s executive committee who moved to New York from the firm’s Washington, DC office last month, argued the matter before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer, describing the quality of advocacy at the hearing as “exceptional” and “really as good as it gets,” granted the motion after finding that allowing XL to stop advancing defense costs presented an overwhelming risk of irreparable harm to the hedge fund’s employees covered by the policy. The decision came as part of a suit brought two months ago by XL seeking a ruling that a criminal plea by one mid-level Level Global employee meant that coverage was excluded for all other insureds under the policy.

For more information about the case, XL Specialty Insurance Company v. Level Global Investors, L.P., et al, 1:12-cv-01598, ‎see‎ ‎“Judge Tells Insurer: Pay Insider Trading Legal Fees—For Now.”‎