Raymond DeMeo

Raymond T. DeMeo

Counsel

Raymond T. DeMeo

Counsel

  • Overview

    Biography

    Ray DeMeo handles insurance litigation, including claims stemming from large-scale natural and man-made disasters. He has extensive experience with complex and high-exposure property and general liability insurance claims and litigation, including class action lawsuits, domestically and internationally. He is a member of the firm's Insurance + Reinsurance Group.

    Property Insurance Coverage Litigation

    Ray has extensive experience as a property insurance litigator, both inside and outside the companies he represents. Before he joined Robinson+Cole, he was Assistant Vice President and Managing Counsel at Travelers Property Casualty Company, where he oversaw all commercial property insurance litigation nationwide, including bad faith lawsuits arising from property insurance claims. He directly supervised the World Trade Center property insurance litigation and oversaw all litigation arising from Hurricane Katrina. Ray also served as Assistant Vice President of Property Claims at Ironshore Specialty Insurance Company, where he supervised high-exposure surplus lines property claims and litigation, nationally and internationally, and assisted in the drafting of specialty policy forms and endorsements.

    Ray has tried several cases to verdict in federal and state courts, and has briefed and argued numerous state and federal court appeals. He is a court-appointed arbitrator and special master for the Connecticut Judicial Department.

    Pro Bono

    Ray is involved in the firm’s effort to help immigrant children who are abandoned, abused, or neglected. The program involves assisting children who are seeking Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), so they can avoid deportation and eventually become United States citizens.

    Ray is also an adjunct professor of insurance law at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he teaches a course in Property Insurance Law. He is the former President of the Federal Bar Association of Hartford County. Ray is a frequent speaker at professional conferences sponsored by the American Bar Association’s Tort and Insurance Practice Section, the Defense Research Institute, the Loss Executives Association, and other industry groups. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ellen Ash Peters during her tenure as Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court.

    Ray regularly writes on insurance-related topics and contributes to the firm’s blog, Property Insurance Coverage Insights. 

  • Experience
    • Experience

      Experience

      • Obtained summary judgment in favor of an insurance company client in a suit by a hospital for losses it sustained after it inadvertently used surgical instruments that had been exposed to a highly contagious communicable disease on hospital patients. The hospital made a claim under the policy's coverage for communicable disease and crisis management. The District Court agreed with the carrier that these coverage's only applied to premises contamination, not loss to patients or loss of the instruments themselves.

      • Won summary judgment on behalf of an insurance company client in federal court, defeating plaintiff’s allegations of breach of contract, bad faith and statutory violations. The owner of a hotel had sought to recover for the total loss of the business due to a 2011 tornado in Massachusetts followed by rain and ice storms later that year. The court agreed with the insurer that the insured’s failure to repair or replace the property within two years of the date of loss, as required by the insurance contract, meant there was no coverage for replacement cost, rejecting the insured's&#’; summary judgment on behalf of an insurance company client in federal court, defeating plaintiff’s allegations of breach of contract, bad faith and statutory violations. The owner of a hotel had sought to recover for the total loss of the business due to a 2011 tornado in Massachusetts followed by rain and ice storms later that year. The court agreed with the insurer that the insured’s failure to repair or replace the property within two years of the date of loss, as required by the insurance contract, meant there was no coverage for replacement cost, rejecting the insureds&#’; summary judgment on behalf of an insurance company client in federal court, defeating plaintiff’s allegations of breach of contract, bad faith and statutory violations. The owner of a hotel had sought to recover for the total loss of the business due to a 2011 tornado in Massachusetts followed by rain and ice storms later that year. The court agreed with the insurer that the insured’s failure to repair or replace the property within two years of the date of loss, as required by the insurance contract, meant there was no coverage for replacement cost, rejecting the insureds&#’; summary judgment on behalf of an insurance company client in federal court, defeating plaintiff’s allegations of breach of contract, bad faith and statutory violations. The owner of a hotel had sought to recover for the total loss of the business due to a 2011 tornado in Massachusetts followed by rain and ice storms later that year. The court agreed with the insurer that the insured’s failure to repair or replace the property within two years of the date of loss, as required by the insurance contract, meant there was no coverage for replacement cost, rejecting the insureds’ argument that delays in claim resolution were the carrier's fault, and should extend the two-year period.

      • Won summary judgment for an insurer who argued that the progressive deterioration and cracking of foundation walls caused by oxidation of minerals in the concrete was not a “sudden and accidental” collapse, as required by the insurer’s policy.

      • Obtained summary judgment in litigation involving a claim for $1.5 million in goods damaged in a flooded warehouse due to Hurricane Sandy. Court held that flood exclusion was not limited to flood caused by earth movement.

      • Successfully represented insurer in combined appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit involving claims of alleged “collapse” of defective concrete foundations.

    • Professional Associations

      Professional Associations

      American Bar Association

      Connecticut Bar Association

      Loss Executives Association

      University of Connecticut School of Law
      Adjunct Professor
  • NEWS + PRESS
    • Presentations

      Presentations

      "Business Interruption and First-Party Coverage After Hurricanes, Floods: Issues for Insurers and Insureds," presented as a Strafford CLE webinar (12/7/2021)
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        • Business Interruption and First-Party Coverage After Hurricanes, Floods: Issues for Insurers and Insureds

        "Business Interruption and First-Party Coverage After Hurricanes, Floods: Issues for Insurers and Insureds," presented by Raymond T. DeMeo, presented as a Strafford CLE webinar (12/7/2021)

        The program examined flood exclusions, concurrent causation, business interruption losses, and off-premises coverage. The discussion included the unique commercial property insurance coverage issues that insurers and policyholders face when responding to claimed losses arising from natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods. The panel also addressed the deductibles and exclusions that most often create coverage disputes and why that occurs; the differences between direct and contingent business interruption coverage; and controversies over business interruption coverage at the insured site and from off-premises damage. The webinar offered best strategies for submitting and receiving claims based on lessons learned over the past decade.


      "Crumbling Concrete: Anatomy of a Progressive Loss," (6/3/2021)
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        • Crumbling Concrete: Anatomy of a Progressive Loss

        "Crumbling Concrete: Anatomy of a Progressive Loss," presented by Raymond T. DeMeo (6/3/2021)

        Insurance + Reinsurance Group member, Ray DeMeo, presented the program "Crumbling Concrete: Anatomy of a Progressive Loss" on June 3, during the Loss Executives Association's two-day June Webinar Series, held June 2-3, 2021. The session analyzed the nationwide implications of  the recent property insurance crisis that occurred in two New England states in which building foundations experienced significant progressive cracking, which resulted in lawsuits and eventually court decisions on the meaning of “collapse” in property insurance policies, as well as trigger-of-coverage issues in progressive losses.


      "Business Interruption Insurance Coverage and the COVID-19 Crisis: An Examination," co-presented with Gregory P. Varga, Gerald P. Dwyer Jr. and Wystan M. Ackerman, the first in a series of webinars designed to explore critical coverage and loss measurement issues that are expected to emerge from COVID-19-related business interruption claims. (3/26/2020)
      • » more info

        • Business Interruption Insurance Coverage and the COVID-19 Crisis: An Examination

        "Business Interruption Insurance Coverage and the COVID-19 Crisis: An Examination," co-presented by Gregory P. Varga, Gerald P. Dwyer Jr., Raymond T. DeMeo and Wystan M. Ackerman, the first in a series of webinars designed to explore critical coverage and loss measurement issues that are expected to emerge from COVID-19-related business interruption claims. (3/26/2020)

        Insurance + Reinsurance Group chair, Greg Varga, moderated the interactive webinar discussion “Business Interruption Insurance Coverage and the COVID-19 Crisis: An Examination” on March 26, 2020. I+R Group members Wystan Ackerman, Ray DeMeo and Kip Dwyer also participated in this first in a series of webinars designed to explore critical coverage and loss measurement issues that are expected to emerge from COVID-19-related business interruption claims.

        As the widespread economic impacts of the novel coronavirus come into focus, businesses in the United States and around the world are looking to business interruption insurance for relief from losses associated with social distancing, supply chain disruption, and decreased demand for goods and services. Simultaneously, politicians and government agencies are pressuring the insurance industry to provide relief, in spite of exclusions and other policy provisions that generally bar coverage. The program examined whether the presence of COVID-19 constitutes “direct physical loss;” the effect of COVID-19 on the “period of restoration” of existing property claims; the applicability of Civil Authority and Contingent Business Income coverage to the claims arising from the novel coronavirus; and how labor shortages and supply chain disruptions may affect the period of restoration of existing claims caused by perils unrelated to the virus. This series is designed for insurance executives, experienced claim professionals and in-house counsel. 


      "The ALI's Restatement of the Law of Liability Insurance, The World Turned Upside Down?" (April 29, 2019)
      • » more info

        • The ALI's Restatement of the Law of Liability Insurance, The World Turned Upside Down?

        "The ALI's Restatement of the Law of Liability Insurance, The World Turned Upside Down?" presented by Raymond T. DeMeo (April 29, 2019)

        Ray DeMeo discussed "The ALI's Restatement of the Law of Liability Insurance, The World Turned Upside Down?" as a panelist at the University of Connecticut School of Law on April 29, 2019. 


      "The World Turned Upside Down," co-presented with J. Tyler Butts, in Hartford, Connecticut (4/5/2019)
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        • The World Turned Upside Down

        "The World Turned Upside Down," co-presented by J. Tyler Butts and Raymond T. DeMeo, in Hartford, Connecticut (4/5/2019)

        Insurance + Reinsurance Group lawyer Ray DeMeo was a panelist at the American Law Institute’s Restatement of Law Liability Insurance conference, The World Turned Upside Down, at the UConn Law School in Hartford, Connecticut on April 5, 2019. Ray spoke as part of a panel  entitled “Plain Meaning and Ambiguity in Insurance Contracts.” In his role as an education director on the Connecticut Bar Association’s Insurance Law Section board, Insurance + Reinsurance Group lawyer J. Tyler Butts helped design the CLE-eligible event and assisted in organizing the panel on which Ray spoke.


      "Policy Inconsistencies, Inter-Insurer Conflicts, and Effective Claim Handling in the Market Situation," facilitator at the 87th Annual Meeting & Educational Conference of the Loss Executives Association in St. Petersburg, Florida (1/24/2018)
      • » more info

        • Policy Inconsistencies, Inter-Insurer Conflicts, and Effective Claim Handling in the Market Situation

        "Policy Inconsistencies, Inter-Insurer Conflicts, and Effective Claim Handling in the Market Situation," presented by Raymond T. DeMeo, facilitator at the 87th Annual Meeting & Educational Conference of the Loss Executives Association in St. Petersburg, Florida (1/24/2018)

        The session identified areas of conflict that can arise between primary and excess property insurers and between multiple insurers providing quota share coverage in the same layer of insurance. Mr. DeMeo covered strategies to proceed with orderly claims adjustment without allowing conflicts to interfere with providing timely payments of covered losses to the insured.


      "Developing & Recurring Issues In Property Insurance," co-presented with J. Tyler Butts and Daniel F. Sullivan, at in-house client presentation to 30 adjusters and claim managers (6/29/2016)

    • News

      R+C in the News

      • April 11, 2019

        J. Tyler Butts and Ray DeMeo Take Part in ALI’s Restatement of Law Liability Insurance Conference

        • » more info

          J. Tyler Butts and Ray DeMeo Take Part in ALI’s Restatement of Law Liability Insurance Conference

          Insurance + Reinsurance Group lawyer Ray DeMeo was a panelist at the American Law Institute’s Restatement of Law Liability Insurance conference, The World Turned Upside Down, at the UConn Law School in Hartford, Connecticut on April 5, 2019. Ray spoke as part of a panel  entitled “Plain Meaning and Ambiguity in Insurance Contracts.” In his role as an education director on the Connecticut Bar Association’s Insurance Law Section board, Insurance + Reinsurance Group lawyer J. Tyler Butts helped design the CLE-eligible event and assisted in organizing the panel on which Ray spoke.

          The American Law Institute adopted its Restatement of the Law, Liability Insurance in May 2018 after years of study, debate and controversy. It remains a work in progress, however, as lawyers and courts consider whether to utilize and adopt Restatement positions, while its opponents continue to lobby against it with regulators as well as in state legislatures and the courts. The conference brought together academics and practicing lawyers who have worked on the Restatement to discuss and debate these issues.

      • February 26, 2018

        Ray DeMeo Presents at the Loss Executives Association Annual Meeting

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          Ray DeMeo Presents at the Loss Executives Association Annual Meeting

          Insurance + Reinsurance Group lawyer Raymond T. DeMeo facilitated a program on “Policy Inconsistencies, Inter-Insurer Conflicts, and Effective Claim Handling in the Market Situation” during the 87th Annual Meeting & Educational Conference of the Loss Executives Association in St. Petersburg, Florida from January 24 to January 26, 2018. The session identified areas of conflict that can arise between primary and excess property insurers and between multiple insurers providing quota share coverage in the same layer of insurance. Mr. DeMeo covered strategies to proceed with orderly claims adjustment without allowing conflicts to interfere with providing timely payments of covered losses to the insured.

      R+C News Releases

      • July 17, 2014

        Robinson+Cole Welcomes Six New Lawyers

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          Robinson+Cole Welcomes Six New Lawyers

          Robinson+Cole is pleased to welcome to the firm five new associates and one counsel across its practice areas. The lawyers join the firm's Boston, Hartford, and Stamford offices and their arrival corresponds with that of Matthew T. Miklave, who, as previously announced, joined the firm as a partner to head Robinson+Cole's labor and employment practice in the firm's Metro New York offices.

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