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Peter J. Biging

Partner

Peter J. Biging

Partner

Experience

Peter J. Biging is an accomplished trial and appellate attorney with more than 30 years of experience as a litigator in the state and federal courts of New York. As co-chair of the firm’s nationwide Management and Professional Liability practice group, Peter counsels and defends directors and officers against claims alleging fraud, negligence, and breach of fiduciary duties, and a variety of professionals against claims based on alleged errors and omissions (E&O) in the performance of their professional services. He also regularly litigates labor and employment practices liability claims, commercial disputes, and municipal liability claims premised on alleged civil rights and constitutional violations.

Peter’s D&O work involves the defense of both for-profit and not-for-profit companies and their executives, and E&O work includes defending insurance agents and brokers, securities brokers, lawyers, and a wide range of other miscellaneous professionals. Peter is regularly called upon to handle complex, high-stakes commercial litigation and claims involving allegations of gross negligence, fraud and malfeasance, harassment and discrimination, as well as litigation of non-solicitation/non-compete disputes.

A recognized thought leader in the area of D&O and D&O risks and litigation, Peter is the immediate past chair of the American Bar Association Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) Professional Liability Insurance Committee (PLIC). He continues to be active in the ABA, including serving as chair of the Media, Privacy and Advertising Law Committee, and in other roles within the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section. He is also a former chair of the Professional Liability Defense Federation (PLDF) Insurance Agent/Broker Claims and D&O/Trustee E&O Claims Defense Committees. He has also been a member of the PLDF Board of Directors since 2018 and currently serves as secretary. For his work in these areas, Peter has been repeatedly honored on the New York Metro Super Lawyers directory in regards to professional liability defense, is rated AV Preeminent in Martindale Hubbell, and was recently selected as one of America’s Top 100 Bet-the-Company Litigators.

Related Areas

Management and Professional Liability Employment and Labor Global Insurance Services Commercial Litigation and Arbitration Municipal and Government Law

Industries

Municipalities and Public Entities Lawyers and Law Firms Insurance and Reinsurance

Experience Highlights

  • As lead trial counsel, successful defense of claims of negligence and breach of fiduciary duty against a financial investment advisor accused of failing to take appropriate actions to warn a customer and otherwise take steps to protect her against a social engineering scam resulting in the loss of almost $1.2 million. Claimant also alleged emotional distress damages of $5 million. After a six-day arbitration hearing, the panel dismissed all claims against the investment advisor in their entirety and issued a zero dollar award.

  • Dismissal following week long trial of claims against an insurance broker for allegedly failing to procure insurance for a residential building despite receiving specific instructions to do so and submission of an application for same, leaving owner uninsured for severe personal injury claims arising from malfunctioning radiator
  • Dismissal on summary judgment following extensive discovery (involving 73 days of depositions) of fraud claims asserted against insurance brokerage division of internationally known financial services firm in a suit alleging a scheme to defraud real estate developer involving complicated advance fee loan scam, resulting in actual damages totaling $38 million
  • Dismissal of claims against insurance broker for alleged failure to advise in connection with purchase of coverage for art gallery after it sustained substantial losses as a result of agreeing to indemnify purchaser of famous artist’s work if it’s provenance was successfully challenged (affirmed on appeal to Appellate Division, First Department)

  • Successful defense of negligence, gross negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, and false and deceptive advertising claims based on alleged misconduct by a large, national insurance brokerage which offered a variety of risk management services to high net worth couple who had used the broker to purchase insurance for approximately 15 years. Plaintiffs had suffered a multi-million dollar loss as the result of a cyber hack into their email account, leading to the wiring of funds as payment towards false invoices their assistant was instructed to pay by the criminal conspirators who had hacked into the account. At the outset of the case, Peter obtained dismissal of plaintiffs’ unjust enrichment and false and deceptive advertising claims, and obtained a second dismissal of those claims after they were re-pleaded in the plaintiff’s amended complaint. Peter obtained summary judgment of the remaining claims after conclusion of discovery, which was focused on developing a factual record establishing the absence of the requisite “special relationship” between the plaintiffs and the defendant giving rise to a heightened duty of care necessary to successful prosecution of those claims.

  • Summary judgment award voiding over $200 million in reinsurance due to the fraudulent concealment of a cedent’s insolvency (affirmed by the Appellate Division, First Department and the New York Court of Appeals)
  • Decision (noted on the cover of the New York Law Journal) finding that it was the duty of an insurer to defend breach of fiduciary duty claims made against a law firm on the part of a legal malpractice insurer, despite the fact that only fraudulent conduct was specifically alleged

  • Dismissal (and affirmance by the NY Appellate Division, First Department) of legal malpractice claims against a law firm for allegedly making a disastrous “tactical” decision contrary to the client’s wishes
  • Dismissal of legal malpractice action against New Jersey based lawyer brought in New York state court on grounds of lack of personal jurisdiction, notwithstanding evidence of work periodically performed in New York, including litigating in New York state and federal courts; once severed from larger case alleging conspiracy to defraud, never further pursued
  • Minimal dollar value settlement of $15 million claim alleging malpractice in the handling of maritime arbitration, after deposition of plaintiff’s renowned ethics expert establishes he was himself practicing law in New York without a license
  • No contribution settlement of alleged Judiciary Law Section 487 claim in alleged multi-million fraud involving alleged misuse of the courts to pursue and conceal same, following filing of motion to dismiss
  • Successful argument of appeal to Second Circuit of case involving dismissal of claims against lawyer for alleged participation in international fraud scheme for failure to name the proper corporate party with standing, even after proper party was identified and plaintiff’s counsel sought permission to amend, for failure to do so in keeping with Court’s instructions regarding final amendments to Complaint, despite District Court acknowledging that the dismissal was quite likely to result in a fraud going unpunished

  • Dismissal of the First Amendment claims of a high school art teacher disciplined for classroom “speech” in the form of a marketing handout soliciting student participation in a planned art school involving nude models (affirmed by the Second Circuit)
  • Dismissal of a First Amendment claim arising from disciplining of an elementary school student for writing a story about murder and sex involving other students (affirmed by the Second Circuit)
  • Dismissal of claims against a social services agency for violation of due process in connection with the removal of children from foster parents (affirmed by the Second Circuit)
  • Dismissal of a Section 1983 claim for regulatory taking and defamation in connection with a town’s issuance of notices of hearings for engaging in regulated activity on wetlands without a permit
  • Dismissal of wrongful death claims (affirmed by the NY Appellate Division, Second Department) against a municipality for allegedly failing to protect two young women who had been walking on railroad tracks from an oncoming train because a police officer who had allegedly directed them into harm’s way had not assumed a “special duty” to protect them

  • Dismissal of libel claims, both affirmed in precedent-setting decisions by the NY Appellate Division, First Department, based on a psychiatric evaluation report to an insurer as protected opinion, and based on a court-ordered report on the mental status of a criminal defendant by a social worker as protected by quasi judicial proceeding immunity
  • Decision upholding the standing of a parent corporation to assert RICO claims for injuries to diminution in value of stock caused by racketeering activity directed at a subsidiary

Honors & Awards

Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating: AV Preeminent

America’s Top 100 Bet-the-Company Litigators

New York Metro Super Lawyers, 2009–10, 2012–23

Background

Admissions

  • New York
  • Connecticut (2019)
  • U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York
  • U.S. District Court for the District of  Connecticut
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
  • U.S. Supreme Court

Education

  • Fordham University School of Law, J.D., 1986
  • Queens College, The City University of New York, B.A., cum laude, 1981

Professional Affiliations

  • International Association of Defense Counsel
  • Professional Liability Defense Federation (PLDF)
    • Board of Directors: President-Elect
    • Treasurer
    • Insurance Agents/Brokers Claims Committee: Former Chair
    • D&O/Trustee E&O Claims Committee: Former Chair
  • American Bar Association (ABA)
    • ABA SCOPE Correlation and Standing Committee
    • Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS)
      • TIPS Governing Council
      • The Brief, Editor in Chief
      • TIPS Section Conference Standing Committee
      • Liaison to the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability
    • Litigation Section
      • Employment and Labor Relations Committee
      • Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee
      • Professional Liability Litigation Committee
      • Professional Liability Insurance Committee (PLIC), Past Chair
  • Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS)
  • Defense Research Institute (DRI)
  • Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM)

News & Knowledge

Publications & Events

  • “Insurance Agent and Broker E&O in 2024: Trends, Traps, and Strategies for Risk Avoidance,” Client Presentation, July 24, 2024
  • “From the Bottomless Ocean of Litigation Data: Addressing Ethical, Practical, and Cost Concerns,” CLM Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA, April 4, 2024
  • “Mediating a Third-Party Claim Where the Insured and the Insurer are at Odds,” New York State Bar Association, April 1, 2024
  • “Attorney Advertising Today: Understanding, Assessing, and Navigating the Significant and Expanding Risks,” 2023 DRI Professional Liability Seminar, New York, NY, November 30, 2023
  • “Double, Double, Toil and Trouble: The Intersection of Professional Liability and Cyber Risk,” CLM Annual Conference, Tampa, FL, March 30, 2023
  • “Insurance Agent and Broker Malpractice: Identifying and Mitigating Risks, Defending E&O Claims,” Co-Presenter, Strafford CLE, September 21, 2021
  • “Legal Malpractice and COVID-19: A Q&A with Two Legal Malpractice Insurance Carriers,” PLDF, May 21, 2020 (login required)
  • “Data Breaches and Cyber Crime: The Expanding D&O and E&O Risks,” Managing Risk at the Intersection of Cybersecurity, Data Privacy and Business, Atlanta, GA, March 5, 2020
  • “When the Bubble Bursts: What Happens When the Longest Bull Market in U.S. History Hiccups?,” PDLF Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, September 25, 2019
  • “Managing EPL and Management Liability Risks in the Wake of the #MeToo and #TimesUp Movements,” 2019 TIPS Section Conference, New York, NY, May 2, 2019
  • “#MeToo and the Emerging D&O Risks,” CLM Annual Conference, Orlando, FL, March 13, 2019
  • “Disasters and the Insurance Agent/Broker, Insurance Consultant, and Risk Manager,” ABA and PLDF Panel, “Disasters: The Emerging D&O, E&O and Corporate Risks,” New York, NY, February 5, 2019
  • Moderator, “Special Relationships, the Duty to Advise, and the High Stakes Insurance Agent and Broker E&O Claim: Strategies for Defending and Trying These Cases,” PLDF Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, October 5, 2018
  • “The ESI and Social Media Monster,” ASPEN Insurance CLE, June 18, 2018
  • “Corporate/D&O Liability and Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: The New Paradigm and How to Manage the Risks Presented,” New York State Bar Association, New York City, NY, May 24, 2018
  • Moderator, “Managing and Defending the High Stakes Insurance Agent and Broker E&O Claim,” CLM Annual Conference, Houston, TX, March 14, 2018
  • “Legal Malpractice at a Crossroads? The Looming Threats” (Co-Presenter), CLM Annual Conference, Nashville, March 29-31, 2017
  • “Strategic and Ethical Landscape of Defending Clients Who Have Engaged in Indefensible Conduct” (Co-Presenter), ABA Annual Meeting, San Francisco, August 5, 2016
  • “The Sharing/On-Demand Economy: The Issues and Exposures,” 12th Annual National Directors Offers Insurance ExecuSummit, Uncasville, CT, May 17, 2016
  • “Strategies for Defending the Seemingly Indefensible Claim,” New York, NY, September 29, 2015 
  • Moderator, “Relationship Advice: Analyzing Claims-Made Coverage and When Claims ‘Relate Back’ to Prior Policy Periods,” 11th Annual National Directors and Officers Insurance ExecuSummit, Uncasville, CT, May 20, 2015 
  • “Legal Malpractice,” ABA Spring Conference, Philadelphia, May 1, 2015 
  • “Defending the Insurance Agent and Broker E&O Claim Arising From the Insurance Application Process — The Changing Landscape,” DRI Professional Liability Seminar, New York, NY, December 4, 2014
  • Panelist, ABA TIPS Professionals, Officers and Directors Liability Committee Leadership Meeting, Boston, August 8, 2014
  • Moderator, “Insurance Agents E&O: Wait, Wait, There’s a Duty to Do What?” 2013 PLUS International Conference, Orlando, FL, November 5, 2013 
  • “Handling the Case Involving Allegations of Fraud or Other Malfeasance by an Employee,” WESFACCA Annual Ethics CLE, New Castle, NY, October 24, 2013
  • “Professional Liability Coverage in Dispute: The Usual Suspects and Developing Issues,” Thomson Reuters Webinar, July 17, 2013
  • Moderator, “Super Storm Sandy — A Professional Liability Perspective,” PLUS Mid-Atlantic Chapter Workshop, Philadelphia, PA, May 9, 2013
  • “Professional Liability Coverage in Dispute: The Usual Suspects and Developing Issues,” ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Midyear Meeting, February 14–16, 2013
  • Moderator, “The Fraud Monster: The Effects of Fraud on Professional Lines Coverage,” PLUS International Conference, November 10, 2010
  • “The Insurance Broker and Coverage Disputes: Emerging Issues,” ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Annual Meeting, March 4–6, 2010

  • “Forging Critical Pathways to Mediation Success: A Candid Conversation with Top Mediators,” (Moderator), Professional Liability Defense Federation, September 4, 2024
  • “2020’s Extraordinary Developments and the Anticipated Impact on Agent/Broker E&O” (Co-Presenter), PLDF Professional Liability Webinar Series, November 6, 2020
  • “Defense Strategies for Traditional and Emerging Sources of Insurance Agent/Broker E&O Exposures” (Co-Presenter), Cyber, Management, & Professional Liability Webinar, November 6, 2019