Thomas J. Perry - Partner

Areas of Practice:

Reinsurance and commercial litigation.

Attorney Biography:

Tom is a 1981 West Point graduate. He served over 5 years of active duty service, first assigned to the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division and later with the 6th Infantry Division. He is Airborne/Ranger qualified and is honorably discharged from the U.S. Army having obtained the rank of Captain.

Tom has considerable experience in reinsurance and commercial litigation including the representation of the Superintendent of Insurance of New York as Liquidator of Union Indemnity Insurance Company and the Commissioner of Insurance of Kentucky as Liquidator of Delta America Re Insurance Company. In connection with those liquidations, he was involved in the prosecution and defense of reinsurance recovery suits, voidable preference and set-off disputes, and actions against former directors and officers, managing general agents and reinsurance intermediaries

He first became involved in reinsurance while practicing in a New York boutique firm which served all segments of the insurance/reinsurance industry in connection with litigation and arbitration in New York and nationwide.

Representative Matters:

  • Presently representing a reinsurer/creditor of an insolvent insurance company challenging New York’s retroactive application of its priority distribution statute, New York Insurance Law §7434, on the basis that it constitutes the taking of a vested right, in violation of the United States Constitution.
  • Assisted in establishing important precedents in New York including:
    • requiring unauthorized foreign or alien reinsurers to post security for judgment as a condition precedent to defending suits against them (Curiale v. Ardra Ins. Co., Ltd., 189 A.D.2d 217, 595 N.Y.S.2d 186 (N.Y. App. Div. 1993));
    • declaring arbitral agreements unenforceable against liquidating insurers (Corcoran v. Ardra Ins. Co., Ltd., 77 N.Y.2d. 225, 567 N.E.2d 969, 566 N.Y.S.2d 575, cert. denied, 111 S. Ct. 2260 (1991));
    • upholding a liquidator’s choice of federal forum in rejecting a cedant’s abstention motion (Curiale v. Amberco Brokers Ltd., 766 F.Supp. 177 (S.D.N.Y.1991)); and
    • requiring a successor reinsurer to post security pursuant to New York’s pre-answer security statue (Curiale v. DR Ins. Co, No. 29543-86, N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. Co., IAS Part 27, 12/1/93)).
  • In New Jersey, he helped obtain a critical decision for an excess insurance carrier on an issue of first impression in New Jersey wherein the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the excess carrier’s reinsurer must demonstrate prejudice before it may prevail on a late notice defense. British Int’l Ins. Co. of Cayman v. Safety Nat. Cas. Corp., 146 F.Supp.2d 585 (D. N.J. 2001), reversed and remanded, 335 F.3d 205 (3d Cir. 2003).
  • Successfully argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court as reported in Ramapo Brae Condominium Ass’n, Inc. v. Bergen County Auth., 328 N.J. Super. 561 (App. Div. 2000), aff’d, 167 N.J. 155 (2001).

Education:

  • Seton Hall University School of Law, J.D., 1992 (Evening Division)
  • United States Military Academy, B.S., 1981

Admissions:

  • U.S. Supreme Court, 2000
  • New York, 1993
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 2d Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern District of New York
  • New Jersey, 1993
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 3d Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey

Professional Affiliations:

  • AIDA Reinsurance and Insurance Arbitration Society, ARIAS·U.S.

Activities:

  • Council Member, Township of Aberdeen