Attorneys & Staff

Robert Friedman is a shareholder and head of the firm's Insurance Coverage Practice. He focuses his practice on helping clients navigate through difficult insurance coverage issues. He represents policyholders in disputes with their insurers involving property damage, bodily injury, environmental liability, products liability, director and officer liability, intellectual property liability, business interruption, and crime and fidelity matters. He has litigated insurance disputes in various state and federal courts throughout Florida, the U.S. and the Caribbean.

After graduating from Harvard Law School, Mr. Friedman served as a law clerk to the Honorable Naomi Reice Buchwald of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He practiced for seven years in the Insurance Coverage group of Dickstein Shapiro LLP in New York before joining Gunster in 2006.

Practice Areas

• Insurance Coverage
• Antitrust and Trade Regulation

Representative Insurance Counseling Matters

• Insurance coverage counsel to several national and international retailers, manufacturers, real estate developers, commercial property owners, service companies, and non-profit organizations related to property damage, bodily injury, and employment practices litigation
• Counsel to several real estate developers, commercial property owners, contractors, and marina owners regarding multi-million dollar insurance claims related to construction defects
• Insurance counseling to financial institutions seeking hundreds of millions of dollars of coverage related to subprime mortgage losses
• Directors and officers insurance counseling to several national and international companies facing securities class action lawsuits
• Environmental insurance counsel to several national and international companies facing liabilities related to Superfund and other environmental liabilities
• Insurance counsel to chemical companies facing nationwide class action lawsuits related to alleged damage due to exposure to chromated copper arsenate
• Insurance counsel to several building products companies facing nationwide class actions related to allegedly defective products
• Counsel to companies facing significant asbestos-related exposures
• Representation of real estate developers, aviation company, and national retailer with respect to first-party insurance claims related to damage from Hurricane Wilma
• Counseling of financial, medical, and retail companies related to multi-million dollar crime and fidelity insurance claims for stolen and embezzled money and merchandize
• Crime and fidelity and directors and officers insurance counseling to organizations and individuals impacted by Bernard Madoff losses
• Insurance counseling to companies facing Chinese Drywall exposures
• Class action counsel to Florida Governor Charlie Crist
• Insurance advisor to the Florida Senate

Significant Litigations

• In re Vitamins Antitrust Litigation, 320 F. Supp.2d 1 (D.D.C. 2004)
• ABT Building Products Corp., et al. v. National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA, 472 F.3d 99 (4th Cir. 2006)
• Alexander v. Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam and Roberts Long Term Disability Coverage, 497 F. Supp.2d 429 (E.D.N.Y. 2007)
• Jones v. Swanson Services Corp., 2009 WL 2151300, No. 3:06-00002 (M.D. Tenn. July 13, 2009)
• NBA, et al. v. Orca Bay Basketball Limited Partnership, et al. (S.D.N.Y., No. 01 CV 9535)
• American Express v. Visa, MasterCard, et al. (S.D.N.Y., No. 04 CV 08967)
• Discover Financial Services, Inc. v. Visa, MasterCard, et al. (S.D.N.Y., No. 04 CV 7844)
• Warner-Lambert Company, LLC, et al. v. AIU Insurance Company, et al. (NJ Sup. Ct., Middlesex Cty., No. MID-L-006614-04)
• RPM, Inc., et al. v. Chubb Custom Insurance Co., et al. (Cuyahoga Cty., Ohio, No. CV 05578004)
• Columbia Casualty Company, et al. v. Arjo Wiggins Appleton P.L.C., et al. (Brown Cty., WI, No. 05-CV-36)
• Urban Decay Cosmetics, LLC v. Southern Marine and Aviation Underwriters, Inc. et al. (S.D.F.L., No. 0:06-cv-61610)
• Devcon Intl. Corp., et al. v. Reliance Ins. Co., et al. (3rd Cir., Nos. 07-4602, 08-1996)

Education

• Harvard Law School, J.D., cum laude, 1998
  Harvard Law Record, Editor-in-Chief
• Cornell University, B.S., 1995
  Quill & Dagger Society

Bar Admissions

• Florida Bar, 2006
• District of Columbia Bar, 2000
• New York Bar, 1999

Court Admissions

• U.S. Supreme Court
• 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
• U.S. District Courts
  Southern District of Florida
  Middle District of Florida
  Northern District of Florida
  Southern District of New York
  Eastern District of New York

Honors

• 2006 Lawyers Alliance for New York Cornerstone Award

Seminars & Presentations

• “Insurance 101,” Practicing Law Institute, New York City, May 2005

Publications

• “Having The Proper Coverage Can Help Your Business Recover Quickly,” Special Report: Insurance Law, Daily Business Review, August 2007
• “Don’t Be Left Defenseless On Product Suits,” National Underwriter, April 2007
• “Six Minutes And Counting: Reproaching The Billable Hour,” Harvard Law Record, Vol. 124, March 2007
• “Closely Examine Demands for Retro Premiums,” Business Insurance, May 2004

Civic & Community Service

• Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, Board of Directors
• Cornell ILR Alumni Association, Board of Directors, 1995-96
• Harvard Law School Association of Palm Beaches
• New York City Bar Fund September 11th Legal Initiative
• Lawyers For Literacy, Palm Beach County

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Main Office
777 South Flagler Drive, Suite 500 East
West Palm Beach, FL 33401-6194

• Insurance Coverage