10.07.2015

It’s all the buzz – drone liability, that is, within the insurance industry.

Plunkett Cooney partner Patrick E. Winters is hovering at the center of this hot topic as Insurance Law Committee co-chair for the DRI – The Voice of the Defense Bar (DRI) at its 2015 Annual Meeting.

DRI’s Insurance Law Committee will offer a presentation on drone liability issues during the meeting, which will take place on Oct.  7-11 at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, D.C.

The session, titled: “Game of Drones: Legal and Insurance Implications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles,” will be presented by Kate Browne, Senior Vice President, Corporate Solutions, Swiss Reinsurance America, from 3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. on Oct. 8. The presentation will focus on the current and anticipated recreational and commercial uses of drones, regulatory concerns, liability issues that may arise out of drone use, and insurance industry responses for coverage and liability.

“This promises to be a really intriguing presentation,” said Winters. “Drone use, both commercial and recreational, is proliferating right now and understanding the potential liability and resulting insurance coverage implications is top of mind for everyone in the insurance industry.”

DRI is the nation’s leading organization of defense attorneys and in-house counsel. With approximately 22,000 members, DRI has served the defense bar for more than 50 years, focusing on education, justice, judicial balance, economics and professionalism.

Winters is a member of the Bloomfield Hills office of Plunkett Cooney, one of the oldest and largest law firms in the Midwest. His practice focuses exclusively on the area of insurance coverage law and the representation of insurance companies in coverage disputes involving alleged environmental contamination, professional liability, automotive, trucking, construction defects, product liability, bad faith and personal and advertising injury.

Winters is a member of the Oakland County and the American bar associations and the State Bar of Michigan. A magna cum laude graduate from Michigan State University College of Law in 2003, he received his undergraduate degree with high honors from Michigan State University in 1999.

Plunkett Cooney is recognized as one of the nation’s leading law firms for insurance coverage litigation. Several members of the firm’s Insurance Law Practice Group have been awarded the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation. In addition to their litigation expertise, Plunkett Cooney attorneys work with their clients to develop new insurance products and to address emergent theories of legal liability.

Established in 1913, Plunkett Cooney employs over 150 attorneys in its offices which are located in nine Michigan cities; Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana. The firm has achieved the highest rating (AV) awarded by Martindale-Hubbell, a leading international directory of law firms, and is listed among the U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” in 2014. Plunkett Cooney has also received several awards naming the firm as a top place to work within the legal industry.

For more information about Patrick E. Winters serving as co-chair of the  DRI’s Insurance Law Committee’s “Game of Drones” session, contact the firm’s Director of Marketing & Business Development John Cornwell at (248) 901-4008; jcornwell@plunkettcooney.com.

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