Christopher R. Pennison, Of Counsel
Christopher Pennison has a nationwide practice focused on marine, environmental, and commercial insurance coverage. With over three decades of experience, Chris manages insurance coverage claims and coverage litigation primarily involving marine insurance, including hull & machinery, protection & indemnity, bumbershoot, cargo, marine comprehensive liability, maritime employers liability, boat broker liability, inland marine, and other marine insurance policies.
He also provides coverage analysis and litigates claims involving OPA90 vessel pollution, non-maritime and CERCLA pollution, environmental liability and remediation, umbrella and excess insurance, surplus lines insurance, legacy insurance coverage, and personal lines coverage.
Chris has considerable experience defending insurance “bad faith” claims. His national experience includes complex and large loss insurance coverage litigation, multi-jurisdictional litigation, class action litigation, False Claims Act or qui tam matters, and federal claims litigation, as well as policy reconstruction, and coverage litigation for the maritime industry, trucking and transportation industry, and environmental and toxic torts.
Clients have asked Chris to write and advise on insurance policies for existing or new lines of coverage, recommending and drafting new policy forms and endorsements, and preparing manuscript policies for specialized risks or unique businesses.
Chris provides counsel on complex statutory and regulatory regimes: Oil Pollution Act; Clean Water Act; Federal Water Pollution Control Act; National Flood Insurance Act; OFAC regulations for AIMU Economic and Trade Sanctions Clause; FinCEN Part 1025 Rules for Insurance Companies; UK Marine Insurance Act of 1906; CERCLA statutes and regulations; U.S. Coast Guard regulations; and MARPOL, among others. He has represented marine and commercial underwriters and syndicate managing agents.
Chris’s experience involves complex insurance litigation, declaratory judgment actions, insurance bad faith litigation, insurance class actions, and mass joinder claims under commercial and personal lines policies. He has coordinated and litigated large-scale fire claims, from initial investigation through litigation, from the standpoint of insurance coverage, subrogation, and recovery, including work with expert witnesses and insurer special investigation units. He has experience with asbestos, silica, noise-induced hearing loss, benzene, lead exposure, and other long-term exposure latent disease and property damage claims from an insurance coverage standpoint.
Throughout his three-decade career, Chris has negotiated and litigating claims involving multiple triggered insurance policies and complex allocation issues. He has overseen litigation under the National Flood Insurance Program and federal contracts between the U.S. Government and Write-Your-Own flood insurers. He has also managed oilfield remediation cases from an insurance coverage standpoint. He has defended insurers in mass joinder and class action litigation involving homeowners’ claims arising out of major hurricanes. His class action litigation experience also includes toxic torts from both a defense and insurance coverage perspective. He has represented insurers in myriad complex multi-party lawsuits.
When not practicing law, Chris is a member of the Mystic Krewe of Olympia, a Mardi Gras organization. He coached for over 10 years (baseball, basketball, and lacrosse) at Pelican Park, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, where he was on the Baseball Advisory Board and volunteered as Age Group Director for baseball. He volunteered at multiple events for St. Tammany Art Association and continues to volunteer with Rotary Mandeville, where his wife is a member.
Professional Activities
- Louisiana State Bar Association, Member
- State Bar of Arizona, Member
- New York State Bar Association, Member
- American Bar Association, Member
- 22nd Judicial District Court Bar Association, Member
- National Institute of Trial Advocacy, Alumnus
- Federal Bar Association, Member
- Bar Association of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Member
- Phi Alpha Delta, Edward Douglass White Chapter, Chapter Justice 1992-1993
Panels and Presentations
- Moderator and panelist, speaking on pollution insurance coverage at the Perrin Insurance Coverage & Allocation Issues Conference in Philadelphia, PA (multiple years)
Civic and Community
- Rotary Mandeville, Volunteer
- St. Tammany Art Association, Volunteer