Insurance

Since its establishment in 1987, Shahid Law Firm has built an impressive track record of successful work in the insurance sector, advising and supporting insurers, re-insurers, banks, financial institutions, and insured corporations at the stages of drafting, and negotiating as well as settlement, litigation and arbitration.

Our lawyers handle insurance mandates with an inherent understanding of the clients’ needs and concerns; and work closely with them by providing sound and practical advice that aims at achieving the clients’ best interests.

Shahid Law Firm is distinguished among other firms in the market for its lawyers’ ability to handle complex insurance and reinsurance mandates, both contentious and non-contentious.

Over its history, Shahid Law Firm has acted for leaders of the insurance industry worldwide. Names include: ACE Insurance, American International Group (AIG), MetLife, and Bupa.

Our legal services include:

• Drafting of complex insurance policies;
• Professional negligence claims;
• Post-crises advice and claims;
• Regulatory and compliance matters;
• Settlement and negotiations; and
• Litigation and arbitration.

Shahid Law Firm’s involvement in the Insurance industry includes:

• Counseling an aviation company with regard to a multi-million-dollar insurance claim to which it was entitled following an aircraft accident in an African state;
• Acting for a group of global insurers, re-insurers and manufacturers against a logistics and warehousing company in a multi-million-dollar arbitration under the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (“CRCICA”) rules in a dispute involving the negligent operation of a warehouse leading to the destruction of the insured products (CRCICA Case No. 846/2012);
• Acting as co-counsel on Egyptian law with regard to an insurance and reinsurance claim involving property damage and business interruption brought by a regional Bank against a leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company (ICC Case No. 15119/JEM);
• Representing a group of re-insurers in the context of their settlement of a multi-million-dollar insurance claim in the course of their negotiations with the Cairo Electricity Production Company and the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company, following a fire and explosion incident to a steam turbine generator in a Southern Cairo plant;
• Representing a global insurance provider in a dispute against the Egyptian Tax Authority, where we successfully obtained a final judgment in favor of our client confirming that the Tax Authority is not entitled to levy a stamp duty on capitalization contracts (The judgment has since become an established tax principle that is applicable industry-wide);
• Upon instructions of the insurers, representing a major five star hotel chain during oral proceedings with respect to an accident of a child drowning in the hotel’s swimming pool;
• Assisting US insurance and reinsurance companies with respect to an insurance dispute relating to damages sustained by a Solar Island Integrated Combined Cycle Power Plant owned by Orascom Construction Industries and insured for the benefit of Flagsol GmbH in the area of Kuraymat in Egypt;
• Advising a Swiss Bank on various life insurance matters pertaining to clients and employees;
• Providing crisis management assistance to a hotel within the context of an emergency and correlating insurance coverage;
• Advising Bupa International on the application of Egyptian laws relating to the marketing and sale of international private medical insurance over the internet;
• Advising XL London Market Ltd, a subsidiary of XL Catalin (formerly XL Group plc) on the legal intricacies of four potential and actual claims arising under a retrocessional policy subscribed to by the London Market, including XL in relation to a total loss of an aircraft in the area of Sharm El-Sheikh;
• Acting as local Counsel for MetlLife in its worldwide acquisition of ALICO from AIG in a deal valued at USD 15.5 billion; and
• Stirring settlement between Gras Savoye and other parties who were shareholders to an Egyptian insurance brokerage company on the background of a financial dispute. Shahid Law Firm drafted and reviewed an amicable settlement, termination and release agreement as part of the mandate.

The Firm has also counseled, represented and advised international Fortune 500 insurance giants on a number of mandates, including:

• Counseling an insurance company and representing it in negotiations with regard to a multi-million-dollar claim by a major Middle East investment group resulting from members of the group’s management being investigated for alleged violations committed during the conclusion of a share purchase deal;
• Advising an insurance company during the course of proceedings brought against an international hotel (the Insured) claiming compensation for an injury caused to a guest;
• Advising an insurance company on its response to damages incurred by a major shopping mall and a hypermarket franchise during the January 2011 events, focusing on the contentious issues of force majeure, terrorism, rebellion and revolution under Egyptian law;
• Reviewing a Cut-Through Agreement for a major real-estate company (the Insured) with respect to the fulfillment of valid claims by the Re-insurer under a related insurance policy;
• Advising a US insurance company, on aspects of average clause, business interruption (BI) and the application of exclusions under a property damage (PD) section of an insurance policy in a claim related to the failure of an electrical transformer in an iron and steel facility in Alexandria, and the subsequent interruption to the activities of the facility; and
• Advising international re-insurers on Egyptian law in the context of a dispute arising between them and the local insurer in relation to losses incurred by an Egyptian gas derivatives company following the failure of two gas turbines at an LNG plant.