Peter Dinunzio

Full Profile

Peter Dinunzio is a member of the firm's insurance disputes practice. He focuses his practice on litigation and arbitration of complex commercial insurance, and reinsurance matters. Peter has particular experience litigating environmental, asbestos, talc and other product liability exposures. 

Peter has more than a decade of experience working with companies, brokers, London Market and other domestic and international insurers in this space and in relation to other latent-type insurance matters. He currently advises companies of all sizes, London and US-based insurers and reinsurers across a wide range of matters including CGL, Excess and Bermuda-Form based contract disputes.

Peter specializes in trial advocacy and appellate practice. He has successfully briefed and argued dozens of interlocutory and post-judgment matters before the appellate courts of New York and other states. Peter has also served as co-counsel in multiple civil jury trials and commercial arbitrations which have proceeded to verdict or final award.

Admissions

• New York
• Connecticut
• Massachusetts

Education

• J.D., with honors, University of Connecticut School of Law, 2005
• Masters of Public Administration, with honors, University of Connecticut, 2003
• B.A., Political Science, University of Connecticut, 2001

Experience

• Lead counsel on behalf of major talc supplier named as defendant in case filed by 41-year-old living mesothelioma plaintiff. Won eve of trial motion before New York's Appellate Division, First Department, staying jury trial based on appeal of trial court's decision denying supplier-client's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction (2019).
• Successfully defended dozens of cases for product manufacturer clients in talc and asbestos personal injury lawsuits pending in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts state courts, securing clients' dismissal based on lack of personal jurisdiction or summary judgment based on legal insufficiency of plaintiff’s product identification evidence (2016-2020).
• Successfully sought and won confirmation of multiple arbitration awards on behalf of reinsurers filed in State and Federal Court (2017-2020).
• Lead counsel for insurer named as direct-action defendant in talc personal injury lawsuit filed in New York state court. Crafted dispositive motion strategy which secured insurer client's dismissal from case based on plaintiff's failure to satisfy requirements of § 3420 of New York's Insurance Law (2018).

Reported Cases

• In re New York City Asbestos Litigation, 173 A.D.3d 529 (2019) – served as lead appellate counsel for defendant equipment manufacturer's appeal of USD 60,000,000 million jury verdict. On appeal the Appellate Division granted client's remittitur request and reduced the award to USD 6,000,000 million, a 90% reduction of the jury's award.
• In re New York City Asbestos Litigation, 164 A.D.3d 1128 (2018) – served as lead appellate counsel for defendant equipment maker's appeal of USD 6,500,000 million asbestos personal injury award entered following a three-week jury trial. On appeal the Appellate Division vacated the USD 6,500,000 million award and remanded the case for a new trial on damages or acceptance of a reduced award. 
• Aston v. Algoma Hardwoods, Inc., 173 A.D.3d 408 (2019) – served as lead appellate counsel for supplier defendant who successfully persuaded trial court to dismiss case based on lack of personal jurisdiction. The Appellate Division affirmed client's dismissal holding that New York's long-arm statute did not allow for the exercise of specific jurisdiction over the defendant, an out-of-state retailer.

Presentations

• Panelist, “Appellate Roundtable and Summary Judgement Decisions,” Perrin New York Asbestos Conference, New York, New York, December 2018
• Speaker, "NYCAL Update: What Is in Store for the Future," Defense Asbestos Litigation Seminar, Orlando, Florida, June 2017
• Panelist, "US and Global claims developments," Global Legacy Claims Conference 2017, London, UK, May 2017
• Speaker, "New York City Asbestos Litigation Update," Perrin Asbestos Defense Strategic Summit, Las Vegas, Nevada, June 2016

Publications

• Co-author, 'Glyphosate: a new toxic tort timebomb?' Commercial Risk, May 2019
• Co-author, “OSHA's asbestos regulations and litigation: What insurers should know,” Claims Magazine, February 2018
• Author, "Is talc the new asbestos?" Insurance Day, May 2016