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Attorneys
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Attorney Profile
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Lewis E. Hassett
Partner
Phone: 404.504.7762
Fax: 404.365.9532
Email: lhassett@mmmlaw.com
Lewis E. Hassett is Co-Chairman of the firm’s Insurance and Reinsurance Practice. Mr. Hassett’s practice concentrates on complex civil litigation involving insurance and reinsurance matters, including coverage disputes, insurance product issues, agency matters, title insurance and title issues, real estate and investment disputes, business torts, RICO claims, class actions and insurer insolvencies. Mr. Hassett has been named to Euromoney’s Guide of the World’s Leading Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers, has been named a “Georgia SuperLawyer” in business litigation, and has been listed in Georgia Trend Magazine’s “Legal Elite.”
Mr. Hassett has extensive experience in complex and multiple parallel actions, in pre-trial, trial and appellate advocacy, and in arbitrations. Mr. Hassett’s investment practice covers disputes regarding real estate and other investments, including creditor and contract issues. Mr. Hassett’s insurer insolvency practice includes the representation of receivers, reinsurers and acquiring insurers. Mr. Hassett has been appointed to represent insurance commissioners in various insurer insolvency matters.
Mr. Hassett is on the Editorial Board of the Insurance Law and Litigation Week, published by Strafford Legal Publications; is on the Editorial Board of the Insurance Coverage Law Bulletin, published by American Law Media, is on the Editorial Board of Reinsurance published by Harris Martin; and is the Eleventh Circuit editor for the most recent Handbook on Insurer Insolvency, published by the American Bar Association. He currently serves on the Education Committee of the International Association of Insurance Receivers. Mr. Hassett is a frequent speaker on insurance and reinsurance matters and has served on the faculty at training seminars for reinsurance arbitrators organized by ARIAS-US. Appointed by Governor Roy Barnes in 2002, Mr. Hassett has served on the Board of Commissioners of the Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity. He has also served on the Board of Trustees of Orchestra Atlanta. Mr. Hassett serves as editor of the firm’s Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review. Mr. Hassett has been inducted as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only trial lawyer honorary society consisting of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers.
Recent Experience
Represented national trade association in multi-district litigation with an agency over a sponsored insurance program. The cases settled favorably on confidential terms.
Represents managing general agencies and claim administrators in multiple cases with insurance companies involving allegations of misconduct and negligence. Some cases have been settled favorably on confidential terms. Others remain pending.
Represents captive reinsurer in dispute with two governmental liability pools relating to losses and allocations thereof.
Represent automobile insurers in putative class action regarding ancillary products.
Represented insurer in action alleging fraudulent concealment of insurance coverage and RICO. Our motion to dismiss on the merits was granted and affirmed on appeal. Cross v. Tokio Marine & Fire Ins. Co., 563 S.E.2d 437 (Ga. App. 2002).
Represented AD&D insurer in dispute with reinsurer over travel coverages. Settled favorably under confidential terms.
Represented an automobile insurer in a case alleging fraudulent concealment of insurance coverage and RICO. The case settled favorably under confidential terms with the record sealed.
Represented numerous insurers in claims seeking to pierce policy limits on the grounds that the insurer refused to settle in bad faith.
Represented several insurers in market conduct proceedings before the insurance department.
Represented trade associations in putative class actions alleging fraud and misappropriation of opportunities in connection with sponsored insurance programs. Cases settled favorably on confidential terms with class certification.
Represented reinsurer in rescission claim involving facultative environmental certificates. Gulf Ins. Co. v. United Nat’l Ins. Co.,,Case No. 2003 CV 72574 (Fulton Sup. Ct., Ga.). Case settled on confidential terms.
Represented commercial property owners in claims for losses along Mississippi coast from Hurricane Katrina. See e.g., SIMA / Signature Lake, L.P. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London, 2006 WL 3538862 (S.D. Miss. 2006) (granting our motion for partial summary judgment). Cases then settled on confidential terms.
Represented commercial brokers, managing general underwriters and claims administrators in coverage disputes under professional liability coverages. Some settled favorably under confidential terms. Others remain pending.
Represented electric utility in property and loss income claim arising from generator explosions. Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. v. New Hampshire Ins. Co., Case No. 06-3261-CV-5-DW (U.S.D.C., W.D. Mo.). Case settled on confidential terms.
Represented health insurer in coverage claims involving paraplegia and renal cancer treatments. Cases settled favorably on confidential terms.
Bar Admissions
State Bar of Georgia, Admitted 1979 (Litigation, Real Property, Tort & Insurance Sections)
Education
University of Miami, B.B.A., cum laude, 1976
University of Virginia, J.D., 1979
Recent Speaking Engagements
Session Leader: Reinsurance Association of America, September 2008
Co-Chair: “Reinsurance Arbitration 101,” New Orleans, March 2007
Co-Chair: “Fundamentals of Reinsurance Litigation and Arbitration,” Boston, March 2006
Session leader at Spring 2005 ARIAS meeting, Las Vegas
Publications
““Pretty Soon You’re Talking Real Money” Federal Court Shifts Cost of E-Discovery,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Spring 2010
“McCarran-Ferguson Vesus New York Convention,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Winter 2009
“Wasa v. Lexington The Imaginary Reinsurance Cover,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Fall 2009
“No More “Because I Said So”,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Summer 2009
“Defending on the Merits before Adjudicating Class Certification,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare
Review, Spring 2009
“The Insurer’s Duty to Defend and the Four Corners Rule,” The Insurance Coverage Law Bulletin, April 2009.
“Title Insurers Have Rights, Too,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Winter 2008
“Implied Follow the Settlements and Restrictions on Setoff,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Fall 2008
“Public Access Versus Arbitration Confidentiality: A Process That Tilts Towards Access,” Mealey’s Litigation Reports: Reinsurance, June 20, 2008.
“Supreme Court ‘Promotes’ Arbitration,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Summer 2008
“Punitive Damages – Recent Applications of Due Process Limitations,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Spring 2008
“The Insurer’s Duty to Lose,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Winter 2007
“Reinsurer Acting As TPA Can Be Liable for Bad Faith Damages,” The Insurance Coverage Law Bulletin, August 2007
“Fifth Circuit Addresses Katrina Issues,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Fall 2007
“Supreme Court Round-Up,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Summer 2007
“Alien Versus Predator Versus Robocop,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Spring 2007
“Careful With Those E-mails, Reinsurer,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Winter 2006
“Ugh, Just What We Need - High Damage Rewards,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Fall 2006
“Insurer Versus Insurer,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Summer 2006
“The Continuing Conflict: Reservations of Rights and Choice of Counsel,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Spring 2006
“Attorney-Client Privilege as Between the Insured, the Insurer and Their Attorney,” The Insurance Coverage Law Bulletin, January 2006
“California Supreme Court Enforces Arbitration Clause: No Conflict with Service of Suit Provision,” Insurance Coverage Law Bulletin, December 2005
“Due Process Versus Arbitrator Discretion,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Winter 2005
“The Unconscionability Revolution,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Fall 2005
“It’s About Time,” Morris, Manning & Martin Insurance/Reinsurance/Healthcare Review, Summer 2005
More Publications
Latest Press Releases
7/24/2008 - Morris, Manning & Martin Establishes Life Settlements Group
1/24/2008 - Skip Myers and Lew Hassett to Co-Chair Insurance & Reinsurance Group at MMM
Service Areas
Class Action Litigation
Corporate & Commercial Litigation
Insurance & Reinsurance
Insurance & Reinsurance Dispute Resolution
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