Profile

While Mr. Jacobus’s practice over the past decade has largely centered on high risk, high value insurance coverage litigation, he comes from a very broad civil and commercial litigation and trial background.  He is a member of the bar in California, Illinois, and Louisiana, and he has tried jury trials to verdict in all three states.  Mr. Jacobus is also a member of the Trial Bar of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.  Additionally, several of Mr. Jacobus’s cases have resulted in written opinions in trial courts and courts of appeal, and he has argued appeals in both state and federal appellate courts.  Mr. Jacobus’s litigation experience ranges from Title VII discrimination and retaliation actions, to international intellectual property litigation, to surety and fidelity bond actions, to Retailers Occupation Tax litigation, to general commercial and business litigation.  Mr. Jacobus is also a skilled strategist and negotiator, who often gets favorable settlements for his clients at appropriate points in the pre-litigation or litigation process.  He is also a frequent publisher and lecturer on topics of interest in the legal community, ranging from insurance coverage issues to product liability and successor liability topics, with over 15 major presentations or publications to his name. 

Litigation

Mr. Jacobus represents sophisticated, commercial clients in complex litigation in a variety of practice areas, including, international intellectual property litigation and insurance coverage litigation.

Intellectual Property

Alan Jacobus has significant intellectual property litigation experience. He has litigated ownership and maintenance rights concerning the world's largest database of organic chemicals. Mr. Jacobus has defended Landham Act claims concerning alleged sale of counterfeit cigars. The claim, litigated against one of the nation's largest and most aggressive firms. was settled for nuisance value. Mr. Jacobus has also litigated alleged trade secret violations.

Presentations and Publications

Editor and regular contributor to the Insurance Coverage Practice’s quarterly newsletter, On the Horizon - Tort and Coverage Issues to Watch.

Co-author with Eric J. Knapp, Insurance and Class Actions: How the United States Supreme Court’s 2011 Dukes Concepcion and Smith Decisions Will Change the Way Insurance Class Actions Are Litigated, published in Mealey’s Litigation Report: Class Actions (May 2012). read article

"How much is that Policy Worth, Anyway?" presented at ABA Section of Litigation, 2012 Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee CLE Seminar (March 3, 2012).

Recent Developments in Litigation Over the Non-Cumulation Condition, published in Coverage (ABA 2012).

Co-authored A Price on Your Head? You Bet. Stranger Owned or Originated Life Insurance Policies: Problems and Solutions, Parts I and II, published in Westlaw Journal's Insurance Coverage (July 8 and 11, 2011). Read Part I  Read Part II

Presenter at a panel entitled "Top Legal Developments: What You Need to Know to Keep Current" at the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) Conference in Vancouver, BC (May 2011).

Representing Insurers When Discoverability of Confidential Settlement Agreements Is at Issue, paper presented at DRI's Insurance Coverage and Claims Institute in Chicago (March 30, 2011).

"Discoverability of Confidential Settlement Agreements in Insurance Coverage Disputes," presented at the ABA Section of Litigation Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee CLE Seminar, Tucson, Arizona (March 5, 2011).

Co-author with Robert Binion, Something Stricker This Way Comes: Dealing with the Medicare Secondary Payer Statute (And What Stricker Doesn’t Say), published in Bloomberg Law Reports, Health Law Reporter, Vol. 3, No. 12 (December 2010). Read article

A "New" Defense to Stacking: The Non-Cumulation Clause, published in the Insurance Law section of the Defense Research Institute’s In-House Defense Quarterly (Winter 2008).

"Ethics Sessions: Can You Keep a Secret? Maybe Not: Exceptions to Traditional Attorney-Client Privilege and Work Product Protections in Insurance Coverage Disputes," paper presented at Mealey’s Bad Faith Litigation Conference (September 2006).

"Pig in a Poke? How Acquiring Companies Can Unwittingly Become Responsible for the Liabilities of Companies They Acquire," presented at Gas Technology Institute Natural Gas & LP Odorization Conference (July 2006).

Key Concepts in General Liability Insurance Coverage for Construction Defects (October 2005).

"Odor Fade and the Legal Duty to Warn," paper presented at Gas Technology Institute’s Natural Gas & LP Odorization Conference (July 2005).

Black Lung Bonds, published in the Defense Research Institute's For the Defense (September 2004).

"Contractual Liability Risk Transfer: Issues and Concerns Arising from Indemnity and Hold-Harmless Agreements," paper presented at Gas Technology Institute’s Natural Gas & LP Odorization Conference (August 2004).

A Modern Analysis Under California Law of Punitive Damages Available for an Insurer’s "Bad Faith," paper presented in Irvine, California (June 2004).

Limiting a Paying Liability Insurer’s Total Loss Under California Law Through Policy Limits, Deductibles, Self-Insured Retentions, Allocation, Apportionment, Contribution, and Subrogation, paper presented in Irvine, California (January 2004).

"Strategies for Insurers Resisting the Prepackage Asbestos Bankruptcy Blitzkrieg", paper presented at FETTI Conference (October 2003).

Analyzing Liability Insurance in Terms of Mold Coverage, published in Columns (September and October 2002).

"Common Pitfalls in the Assertion of the Sistership Exclusion as a Bar to Coverage Under Commercial General Liability Policies", paper presented at ABA Insurance Coverage and Internet Litigation Committees Mid-Year Meeting (March 2002).

Analysis of the "Pay When Paid Defense" After Brown & Kerr v. St. Paul and Marine, published in IADC Newsletter, Fidelity and Surety Committee (July 1999).