David F. Russey

David has over a decade of experience representing clients in commercial litigation and insurance coverage matters. David joined Cohen & Grigsby in 2004 and was promoted to Director in 2007.  He was an Associate at Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling in Pittsburgh from 1999 to 2004 and was a paralegal at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., from 1994-1996.

Areas of Concentration

• Insurance Coverage
• Class Action Defense
• General Commercial Litigation
• Appellate Litigation

Representative Cases

• Represented policyholder in litigation and three week jury trial arising from collapse of bulk material handling equipment at port in West Africa seeking indemnity for first-party property loss and business interruption losses
• Represented policyholder in environmental insurance coverage litigation involving sites located in Indiana and North Carolina and negotiated settlements with five insurance companies
• Represented policyholders in claims against the estates of insolvent insurance companies in New Jersey and Illinois leading to allowed claims in excess of $25 million

Class Action Defense

• Defended motor vehicle insurer against claims that it breached its contract and acted in bad faith when it removed an arbitration provision from its policy and defeated attempt to amend complaint to add class action claims.  (Graham v. Progressive Direct Ins. Co., No. 09-969, 2010 WL 3636192 (W.D. Pa. September 15,2010))
• Defended motor vehicle insurer in Pennsylvania state court action claiming that rejection form violated MVFRL, and therefore, class members were entitled to coverage as if no rejection form had been signed 
• Defended motor vehicle insurer in Pennsylvania state court action claiming that household exclusion violated MVFRL and, therefore, class members were entitled to inter-policy stacking
• Defended motor vehicle insurer in Pennsylvania state court action claiming that, where coverage lapsed for a short period of time due to nonpayment of premiums, insured class members were entitled to stacking benefit if insurer did not obtain new stacking rejection form prior to accident

Commercial Litigation

• Obtained summary judgment for client against claims arising from alleged promise to purchase metals recycling plant located in Mexico. (Aceros Recicilables de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. v. ELG Metals Corp., No. 02-1935, 2006 WL 1429581 (W.D. Pa. Mar. 14, 2006)) 
• Obtained summary judgment for minority members of LLC against managing member in action for valuation of and payment for interests
• Defended client in arbitration hearing claiming that client  had improperly rejected nonconforming goods  
• Represented client in suit against manufacturer of scrap baling machine claiming that machine did not function properly and/or was not suited for its intended purpose
• Represented bank in bench trial in action based on personal guarantees of corporation's installment payment obligations under promissory note (Property Acceptance Corp. v. Zitin, No. 04-3920, 2007 WL 2343869 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 15, 2007)
• Defended health care system in fourteen day, three-judge arbitration regarding rescission of hospital merger agreement and claims for breach of contract seeking $75 million
• Defended health care system in antitrust challenge to its acquisition of specialty hospital
• Represented directors and officers in claims for breach of fiduciary duty in suits filed in Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware
• Represented Mayor of Harrisburg in appeal overturning Commonwealth Court order granting summary judgment.  Pennsylvania Supreme Court found that Educational Empowerment Act permitted mayors of medium-sized cities to assume control of failing school districts and was not special legislation.  (Harrisburg Sch. Dist. v. Zogby, 828 A.2d 1079 (Pa. 2003))

Additional Roles

On July 22, 2009, David gave a C&G Academy presentation titled: “The Nuts and Bolts of Settlement Agreements/ Releases.”

David co-presented the 2005 Cohen & Grigsby seminar, "Lessons Learned from Ivan, Katrina and Rita: Insurance Coverage Issues for Business."

David co-chaired the Members Services Committee of the Allegheny County Bar Association Young Lawyers Division from 2004-2005 and participated in the Bar Leadership Initiative of the ACBA Young Lawyers Division in 2003.

He has served as a member of the Cohen & Grigsby Recruiting Committee since 2006.