Robert D. Chesler is a shareholder in Anderson Kill's Newark office. Bob represents policyholders in a broad variety of coverage claims against their insurers and advises companies with respect to their insurance programs. Bob is also a member of Anderson Kill's Cyber Insurance Recovery group.
A leading participant in the birth of modern insurance law in the early 1980s, Bob has earned the reputation as "The Insurance Guru" for exceptional insurance coverage knowledge, and has emerged as a leader in such new areas of insurance coverage as cyber-insurance, D&O, IP, and privacy insurance.
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Bob has served as the attorney of record in more than 30 reported insurance decisions, representing clients including General Electric, Ingersoll-Rand, Westinghouse, Schering, Chrysler, and Unilever, as well as many small businesses including gas stations and dry cleaners. He has received numerous professional accolades, including a top-tier ranking for Insurance Litigation: New Jersey in Chambers USA: American's Leading Lawyers for Business, which dubs him a "dominant force in coverage disputes" and cites a client who calls him "a dean of the insurance Bar; one of the brightest in writing about and analyzing insurance coverage."
He is also listed in The Legal 500, The Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers and Who's Who Legal in the Insurance and Reinsurance section of the publication.
Bob is a relentless advocate for his clients in their efforts to obtain coverage from their insurance companies. He has strength in creatively analyzing complex insurance coverage disputes and rapidly driving towards resolution. He has spent his entire career obtaining settlements from insurance companies. He can speak "insurancese" as well as the insurers, and knows how to approach insurance companies, when to talk to them and when to litigate. His depth of experience enables him to distinguish a bad insurance claim from a good one, and understand and implement best strategies for obtaining money for his clients quickly and cost-effectively.
Bob taught history at the State University of New York at Purchase and Legal Methods at Harvard University. He currently teaches insurance law at Rutgers Law School. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University and maintains a scholarly interest in insurance. He is co-author of the seminal article Patterns of Judicial Interpretation of Insurance Coverage for Hazardous Waste Site Liability, 18 Rutgers L.J. 9 (1986), which has been cited by numerous courts, including seven state supreme courts and the Second Circuit, along with dozens of other articles on insurance issues. He is co-author of Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property and Cyber Insurance Claims, published by Thomas West, and is former co-editor in chief of the Environmental Claims Journal. Bob is also co-editor of Coverage, the ABA Insurance Journal. He has chaired seminars on the new cyber-policies and food insurance issues for the ABA and NJSBA, and is currently Chair of the Insurance Sub-Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association.
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Professional Memberships
Chair, Intellectual Property Insurance Sub-Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association; American Bar Association; Insurance Subcommittee of Litigation Section; TIPS; Essex County Bar Association: Insurance Committee; and the New Jersey State Bar Association; Insurance Section; Co-Chair, Food & Beverage Subcommittee of the ABA Section of Litigation Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee; Society of Environmental Insurance Professionals; Vice-Chair, Professional Liability Insurance General Committee (2017-18).
Association Memberships
Founding Member, American College of Coverage and Extra-Contractual Counsel
- Seeking insurance coverage under the policy's coverage for invasion of the right of private occupancy. A builder's subcontractor made a mistake, and the condo units were too noisy. The builder had to move out the condo owners to effect repairs.
- Obtained coverage for a client that had conducted sand-blasting of containers on its property, resulting in paint flecks that contained lead that allegedly caused groundwater contamination.
- Represented a national retailer that was sued pursuant to a California statute that made it illegal to ask a customer who was paying by credit card for personal information. Successfully obtained coverage under the client's cyber insurance policy.
- Counseling a hotel company that had a major data breach on insurance coverage.
- Pursuing insurance coverage in the case of the President of a company that stuffed ATMs with cash and stole over $50,000,000 from his company.
- Negotiated insurance coverage for an electric company whose customers have sued it in several class actions, asserting that they were overcharged.
- Analyzed and pursued coverage for companies with thousands of asbestos and silica claims filed against them.
- Advised clients on insurance in mergers and acquisitions, and advised companies on their insurance programs.
Bob has represented General Electric, Ingersoll-Rand, Westinghouse, Schering, Chrysler, Unilever, gas stations and dry cleaners.