Michael P. Thompson is a Partner in the Hartford office of GRSM and is a member of the Insurance practice group. He has decades of experience in litigating insurance disputes and providing practical advice on a range of complex commercial matters both domestic and international.

Michael has successfully represented insurers and reinsurers in numerous defense, coverage, and regulatory matters issues across all business lines. He also has a broad commercial litigation background, particularly in the areas of international contract disputes, commercial fraud, products liability, and asbestos. He litigates and arbitrates disputes in insurance and in facultative and treaty reinsurance, including follow-the-fortunes issues, commutations, allocation, aggregation, number of occurrences, rescission, offset, pre-hearing security, insolvency, contract wording, and fraud. Michael also represents carriers and product manufacturers in class action lawsuits, defending them against such claims as vanishing premium policies, unfair trade practices, computer defects, and violations of federal and state environmental laws.

For example, Michael recently:

• Obtained a multimillion-dollar medical malpractice award on behalf of reinsurers in a heavily contested arbitration, which included recovery of clients' attorneys' fees due to cedent's bad faith.
• Successfully defended claims by a Long Island developer seeking additional insured coverage under an excess umbrella policy issued to our client's insured—the general contractor—accused of faulty workmanship in the construction of a $70 million Long Island apartment complex. The case involved multi-court proceedings in New York, Colorado, and Massachusetts.
• Successfully defended claims in Bermuda Form arbitration against D & O excess carrier by its insured seeking over $18 million in expenses and attorneys' fees related to losses incurred in multiple securities class actions arising from the insured's alleged manipulation of the California energy market.
• Oversaw mediation efforts on behalf of an excess carrier with $30 million of potential exposure for its insured's alleged negligence in erection/construction of a steel mesh roofing system of a water treatment plant at a major university that resulted in the death of a crane operator and severe injuries to multiple co-workers.

Michael has appeared before courts and arbitration panels throughout the U.S. and has assisted in proceedings before various tribunals in the U.K., where he practiced as a solicitor for four years. He still works with London insurance clients and is a licensed solicitor in the U.K. The Connecticut Bar Foundation recently named him a James W. Cooper Fellow for outstanding lawyers, judges, and teachers of law.

He received his J.D. with honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief at the Connecticut Journal of International Law. He received his A.B. in English from Dartmouth College and an M.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John's College in Annapolis.

Michael serves on the Board of Selectmen in Redding, Connecticut and as a board member of the Connecticut Lottery Corporation. He is a former Chair of the Connecticut Judicial Selection Commission. He is listed in the current edition of the Legal Media Group Guides to the World's Leading Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers.

Admissions

• Connecticut
• England and Wales

Memberships

• Connecticut Judicial Selection Commission, Former Chairman – Appointed to the Commission by Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell in 2008.
• Board of Directors of the Connecticut Lottery Corporation – Appointed to the Board by Governor Dannel P. Malloy.
• Connecticut Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee – Appointed to the Committee by Chief Justice Chase Rogers of the Connecticut Supreme Court.
• Board of Selectman in Redding, Connecticut
• Redding Zoning Board of Appeals, Former Chairman
• American Bar Association
• Connecticut Bar Association
• Law Society of England & Wales

Representative Experience

• Successfully represented London market insurance syndicates seeking to recover damages in excess of $40 million, following the alleged fraud by their insured, a broker of marine cargo based in New York.
• Prevailed on two summary judgments in federal court on behalf of his client concerning the scope of a pollution exclusion in a facultative reinsurance contract and underlying allocation under the follow the fortunes doctrine.
• Successfully led the defense of a major aviation insurance consortium against U.S. antitrust claims alleging boycott in the denial of coverage and failure to renew launch and orbit satellite policies.
• Successfully represented a reinsurer in an arbitration concerning its denial of a multi-million dollar medical malpractice loss ceded to it in a matter involving late notice and bad faith claims handling.
• After a three-week long arbitration, won a multi-million dollar award for his client in a highly contested reinsurance dispute concerning the denial of a boiler machinery claim.
• Obtained summary judgment for a D&O excess carrier in a high-profile dispute involving excess coverage for the former directors and officers of a major financial institution.
• Advised a large European charter airline in a multi-jurisdictional dispute to recover damages resulting from credit card fraud related to the provision of aviation support services.
• Successfully defended class in Bermuda for an arbitration against D&O excess carrier seeking over $18 million in expenses and attorney's fees related to losses incurred in multiple securities class actions arising from its insured's alleged manipulation of the California energy market.