Justin K. Fortescue Associate

Justin Fortescue focuses his practice on reinsurance and commercial litigation matters.  As part of the Reinsurance Group, Justin represents both cedents and reinsurers in complex reinsurance disputes involving various issues.  Some of the areas Justin has focused on include the applicability of the follow-the-settlements doctrine to a ceding company’s allocation decisions, the application of a deficit carry forward provision in a multi-year contractual relationship and the offset of balances owed under multiple contracts.  Justin has also performed significant work involving the Federal Arbitration Act - The Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention) in conjunction with confirming/vacating reinsurance arbitration awards.

Justin has also successfully negotiated a number of global commutations with various international insurance/reinsurance companies and has assisted ceding companies with the collection of reinsurance recoverables from recalcitrant reinsurers.  Justin has also assisted numerous ceding companies refine and enforce claims against insolvencies.

In his commercial litigation practice, Justin represents companies in complex matters involving such issues as the securitization of home mortgages, the ability to bring a defamation suit against a rating agency and “junk fax” claims arising under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. 

Prior to joining White and Williams, Justin represented insurers in various types of coverage litigation including claims arising from theft, fire, automobile accidents and weather.  Justin was also extensively involved in the investigation of suspicious insurance claims including conducting Examinations Under Oath of policyholders and working with private investigators to investigate the facts behind claims.  Justin’s involvement in these matters resulted in numerous policyholders dropping their claims.

While in law school, Justin served as a judicial intern for the Honorable Judge Jane R. Roth of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. 

Representative Matters

• Represented a ceding company seeking to vacate an unfavorable arbitration award involving a highly complex finite reinsurance relationship
• Negotiated global commutations with reinsurance companies from various countries including Korea, France and Bahrain
• Recovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in reinsurance recoverables on behalf of ceding companies, the majority of which had been written off