Robert L. Alpert
President
rla@icalmgroup.com
David B. Zoffer
Executive
Vice President
dbz@icalmgroup.com
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ICALM GROUP is organized to prepare for and respond to the immediate needs of the corporate and insurance industry when dealing with catastrophic, complex or individual claims. ICALM GROUP also maximizes the effectiveness of insurance and litigation budgets by helping companies achieve material savings in time and money, regardless of the size or volume of claims, through enhanced and innovative procedures. ICALM's founders are attorneys and former senior executives of an underwriting and claims management subsidiary of General Re Corporation, the nation's largest reinsurer. They have a total of more than fifty-four years of litigation experience, forty-seven years of which have involved responses to multiple death and serious injury lawsuits arising from crisis situations caused by major catastrophes. ICALM Group was retained by American Airlines, and its insurance underwriters, to manage claims, respond to incidents and accidents and supervise litigation arising therefrom throughout the world. While representing these entities, ICALM Group managed damage claims arising out of three major aircraft accidents exceeding $450,000,000.
If your concerns include an isolated accident, product liability, environmental or toxic tort claims, subrogation recoveries, claims system reviews, due diligence requirements, or total quality management of your claims, outside counsel or third-party administrators, ICALM can help. ICALM's expertise includes extensive experience in governmental hearings, in-house accident investigations, crisis communications, prompt claims resolution, nationwide litigation management and cost control, expert witness and technical consultant selection and preparation for testimony, complex case negotiations, computerized structured settlements, and claims and lawsuit administration procedures.
The goals of our clients are reached at reasonable costs through carefully developed programs that include:
- Aggressive and thorough factual investigations
- Expeditious and comprehensive evidence preservation
- Experienced and task oriented law firm selection
- Active and productive local counsel management
- Discerning and prioritized issue coordination
- Efficient and early damage assessment
- Continuous liability analysis
- Financial exposure containment through practical management of liability problems and transactional costs
Significant achievements by ICALM principals in the areas of catastrophic response programs, litigation management and litigation audits for corporations and insurers during the last three decades:
1. two major aircraft accident multi-district proceedings wherein (1) no liability discovery was conducted and no associated costs were incurred, and (2) the average per passenger costs to resolution was 50% less than other current, similar events;
2. six corporations successfully defended through separate trials from punitive damage allegations arising out of six different accidents;
3. the largest product liability verdict ever awarded and recovered by an airline against an aircraft manufacturer;
4. the successful defense of another aircraft manufacturer in the trial of a forty million dollar product liability claim brought by a foreign airline;
5. the early negotiation of the largest percentage contribution without litigation by the United States government as a result of a domestic aviation accident;
6. a litigation management audit project that concluded with a $3,500,000 reduction in legal costs;
7. the trial of over two hundred and twenty serious injury and wrongful death claims wherein the verdicts were within 10% of the anticipated results; and
8. the successful prosecution of more significant appeals in the field of aviation and damages law than any other single entity or law firm.
Successful Results
Corporations and insurers that have achieved successful results through the efforts of ICALM's principals and employees include the following:
Aetna
American International Group
Air Florida, Inc.
Air Waves Corporation
Allegheny Airlines, Inc.
Allied Group
Allstate Insurance Group
Aloha Airlines, Inc.
American Airlines, Inc.
American Home Assurance Co.
American Trans Air, Inc.
AMTRAK
Assurance France Aviation
Aviabel
Avia France
Avion Assurance Limited
Chubb Group of Ins. Cos.
CIGNA
Continental Airlines, Inc.
Delta Air Lines, Inc.
Drury Inns, Inc.
Eastern Airlines, Inc.
ERG Management Corporation
Flagship Airlines, Inc.
Frankona
Galaxy Airlines, Inc.
General Accident
Grange Insurance Group
Hartford Insurance Group
INA
La Concorde Group
L.B. Limited
Lloyd's of London Underwriters
Lockheed Corporation
Midwest Express Airlines, Inc.
National Airlines, Inc.
New York Marine & General Insurance Co.
Northbrook Insurance
Pacific Southwest Airlines
Pan American World Airways, Inc.
Piedmont Airlines, Inc.
Puerto Rico International Airlines, Inc.
Shand Morahan
Simmons Airlines, Inc.
Somerset Insurance Services of Texas, Inc.
Tann Corporation
TIG Insurance
United Airlines, Inc.
USAir
Zurich Re
ROBERT L. ALPERT
President
ICALM GROUP
6320 Quadrangle Drive, Suite 230, Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Telephone: 919-419-7370 Facsimile: 919-419-7366
e-mail: rla@icalmgroup.com
Bob Alpert has dedicated his thirty year professional career to the (1) efficient and expeditious resolution of claims and litigation arising from aviation accidents, both domestic and international, and (2) the cost-effective management of transportation, environmental and products liability litigation. A graduate of Holy Cross College and Fordham University School of Law, he became associated in 1968 with the New York law firm of Haight, Gardner, Poor & Havens where he represented parties in several of the largest air disasters occurring during that period of time.
In 1973, Bob joined an aviation underwriting and claims management insurance pool formed by several of the largest casualty companies in the United States to create a professional and innovative claims department to enhance the response capability of a major writer of aviation insurance. By the late 1970's his efforts had proven successful. The claims department, with his leadership, grew from twenty-five to over one hundred people and became recognized worldwide as the premier aviation and mass disaster claims facility. In 1979, Frank J. Lynch, Chairman of the Board of USAU, Inc. said:
"It gives us great pleasure to recognize Bob's tremendous contribution to the success of our organization. His performance has been outstanding and he is recognized throughout the world as the leading expert in aviation disaster litigation."
Since 1969, Bob Alpert has actively participated in the defense, prosecution and administration of claims arising out of almost every major aviation accident including those which have involved commercial air carriers, transport category aircraft manufacturers, corporate owners of general aviation aircraft, airports, aircraft maintenance and service companies, liability insurance carriers, workers' compensation insurers, local governments and the United States of America. While managing annual legal expenditures in excess of $40,000,000, he advanced the effective administration of litigation arising from these accidents, dramatically improved claims resolution techniques and actively managed trial attorneys throughout the United States to promote the fair, efficient and prompt conclusion of legitimate claims.
In 1977, after the world's largest air disaster between a Pan American 747 and a KLM 747 at Tenerife, Canary Islands, Bob initiated the "Tenerife Letter" which involved immediate, direct contact with injured passengers and heirs of deceased passengers in an attempt to accomplish fair and reasonable settlements, or prompt jury trials, while eliminating unnecessary costs and expenses associated with protracted litigation. Within two years all six hundred and forty-four passenger and crew claims were concluded. For the first time in the history of aviation accident litigation the costs and expenses of all of the defendants involved in a complex case were reduced to less than 4% of the cost of the accident and the victims of the tragedy received almost 75% of the claims dollars paid. Neither Pan American nor KLM ever experienced the inconvenience or costs associated with liability discovery and extended litigation.
In a March 1989 National Law Journal article entitled "Who's Who in Aviation Law" a prominent plaintiffs' aviation trial attorney described Bob Alpert:
". . .as the most effective aviation defense attorney." National Law Journal, Vol. II, No. 28, March 30, 1989.
Since 1990, Bob has been retained to assist corporations and insurers in the (1) management of aviation, railroad and hotel catastrophes, (2) the practical administration of multi-party environmental and products liability cases, (3) the evaluation of serious personal injury and wrongful death cases and (4) special projects involving the review of legal bills and court testimony relating to coverage for defense costs.
He is a member of the American Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, Federation of Insurance and Corporate Counsel, International Association of Defense Counsel and the Defense Research Institute. He has been a frequent guest lecturer and author on the subjects of litigation management, federal court discovery, punitive damages, ethics in litigation and the early evaluation and settlement of complex claims.
DAVID B. ZOFFER
Executive Vice President
ICALM GROUP
6320 Quadrangle Drive, Suite 230, Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Telephone: 919-419-7370 Facsimile: 919-419-7366
e-mail: dbz@icalmgroup.com
Throughout the United States and Europe, corporations and insurers with a difficult claim, or litigation in multiple jurisdictions, or a catastrophic/complex loss rely upon David Zoffer's expertise in financial exposure containment through the practical management of liability problems and transactional costs. He has coordinated and directed multi-district litigation, environmental and major property losses, serious injury and wrongful death cases and complex and contested business losses. David has managed claims personnel, investigators, outside counsel and experts from diverse disciplines to accomplish cost-effective and successful results in claims totaling in excess of one billion dollars.
He has conducted analyses of claims operations, training and procedures, assisted corporations in the development of programs to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of insurance and legal personnel and advised law firms on methods to enhance client relationships. His litigation management consulting engagements have included examinations of law firm cost-effectiveness in the defense of individual and multiple suits as well as the largest product liability litigation ever brought in the United States.
A graduate of Hofstra University and Fordham University School of Law, David is a former senior vice president of an underwriting and claims management subsidiary of General Reinsurance Corporation. His responsibilities there included the active management of large losses involving major domestic airlines, the world's largest corporate operators of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, aircraft maintenance and repair facilities, governments and foreign insurers. He previously served as Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of New York.
Since 1979 David has been directly involved in planning and implementing catastrophe response and litigation management programs throughout the United States. He has lectured and written on those subjects for a variety of organizations and publications, including the Regional Airline Association, National Transportation Safety Board, American Trucking Associations, American Bar Association, Reinsurance and Insurance Directors' Summit, Tennessee Corporate Counsel Institute, Federation of Insurance and Corporate Counsel, Risk and Insurance Management Society, Disaster Recovery Journal, The Business Lawyer, and Lloyd's of London Press.
Currently a vice-chairman of the Corporate Counsel Committee of the American Bar Association's Tort and Insurance Practice Section, he has served as a faculty member of The Crisis Management Strategies Program of the Fordham Corporate Counsel Association. He is a member of the North Carolina and New York Bar Associations, the American Corporate Counsel Association (Law Department Management Subcommittee on Outside Counsel Relations), the Federation of Insurance and Corporate Counsel, and the Defense Research Institute. David received his ADR training from the Duke University Private Adjudication Center and he is a Certified Mediator.
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