Do Insurance Policies Cover the Cost of Responding to Subpoenas?

American Bar Association, Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee, Practice Points

PUBLISHED ON: July 23, 2018

Policyholders and their insurance companies frequently disagree over what constitutes the claim needed to trigger the policy’s insuring agreement. This dispute arises frequently in today’s business world, as more and more professional liability policyholders are forced to defend against investigations by government regulatory agencies. Given the seriousness of such investigations and the glacial pace at which they typically proceed, policyholders can end up incurring millions of dollars in legal fees responding to subpoenas before formal legal proceedings even begin.