Robert M. Horkovich, managing partner of Anderson Kill & Olick, P.C. and co-chair of the firm's Insurance Recovery Group, has been named a 2012 Insurance MVP by Law360.

Law360's annual MVP awards honor attorneys whose achievements in major litigation or transactions in various practice categories have set a new standard for accomplishment in corporate law. Mr. Horkovich was one of two insurance recovery attorneys, representing policyholders only in insurance coverage disputes, honored by Law360 in 2012.

Announcing the award, Law360 notes that Mr. Horkovich represented the State of California in a landmark California Supreme Court decision regarding the Stringfellow Acid Pits Superfund cleanup project. In State of California v. Continental Insurance Co. et al., the state's high court on August 9, 2012 ruled in favor of the State on issues fundamental to policyholders, finding that insurance companies must honor policy language promising to pay "all sums" up to policy limits to redress a loss stemming from a covered occurrence, regardless of the length of time over which damage occurs, and that policyholders can "stack" coverage limits from policies spanning multiple years to maximize recovery.

That "huge victory for policyholders,” as Law360 wrote at the time, "gives a major boost to policyholders battling for coverage of asbestos litigation, toxic tort cases, pharmaceutical liability claims, construction defect and other claims involving damage that unfolds over long periods.”

Law360 also noted Mr. Horkovich's work in 2012 in insurance coverage matters on behalf of clients including Cleaver-Brooks, Inc., the Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos Settlement Trust, and the Plaintiff's Steering Committee in the Deepwater Horizon litigation. Law360 further notes that Mr. Horkovich "calls securing high levels of funding to cover medical payments for asbestos injuries and cleanup costs for environmentally damaged sites ‘very, very rewarding work'" because "Insurance can be a very important mechanism for social reform and social justice."

To read the Law 360 story, please click here.