Ryan Westerfield

Full Profile

Ryan Westerfield focuses his practice on complex insurance and reinsurance litigation. He has extensive experience with these disputes in federal and state courts, along with experience concerning international commercial arbitration. Ryan has supervised and coordinated disputes under domestic policies and the Bermuda Form involving environmental incidents, mass torts, catastrophes and products liability matters. He also manages litigation in federal and state courts at all levels, from initial pre-trial assessment through final appeal.

Ryan represents domestic and foreign insurers regarding an array of policy forms, including excess and umbrella coverage, commercial general liability, pollution liability, professional lines and first-party property insurance.

Ryan has experience advising London Market insurers, where he has worked alongside insurers’ claims teams to provide in-house legal advice, aid in the drafting of policies and endorsements, and claim monitoring on a broad range of professional indemnity and E&O issues. He has also represented insurers in coverage disputes concerning technology and media insurance policies.

Prior to joining Clyde & Co, Ryan was an associate at a New York law firm working in their global insurance litigation group and the data privacy liability and technology services group.

Admissions

• New Jersey
• New York
• US District Court for the District of New Jersey
• US District Court for the Southern District of New York

Education

• J.D., Fordham University School of Law
• B.A., Boston College

Experience

• Extensive experience representing both domestic and international insurers regarding coverage disputes arising out of the opioid crisis.
• Represented a foreign insurer in a dispute under a Bermuda Form policy regarding coverage for the massive release of airborne pollutants.
• Represented a foreign insurer in a dispute under a Bermuda Form policy, seeking to enforce a London arbitration clause rather than proceed with litigation in US District Court.
• Represented a foreign insurer in a dispute under a Bermuda Form policy regarding coverage for the catastrophic failure of components at an oil refinery.
• Represented a foreign insurer in a dispute under a Bermuda Form policy regarding coverage for claims arising from widespread wildfires.
• Represented an insurer in a dispute over coverage for claims arising out of an allegedly defective pharmaceutical product which involved issues including reinstatement of limits and the scope of integrated occurrences.
• Drafted a comprehensive cyber, privacy, technology and media policy for an insurer. The project included an in-depth analysis of over 20 competing policies with the aim of producing coverage to attract new insureds.
• Drafting a policy for an electric utilities insurer covering damage to insured sites, decontamination expenses arising from nuclear contamination, and business interruption expenses, among other coverages.
• Counsel to an insurer concerning coverage sought by a financial institution under a cyber insurance policy for alleged patent infringements in the financial institution’s design and use of a mobile banking app.
• Counsel to a domestic insurer for a design firm implicated in the malfunction of an energy turbine.    
• Counsel to a domestic insurer of an engineering company relating to claims made against the company for negligent construction and oversight, resulting in a collapse of a roadway.