Biging, Peter
Peter J. Biging
Goldberg Segalla LLP
PRACTICE GROUP
Professional Liability
Labor and Employment
Global Insurance Services
Business and Commercial
Municipal and Governmental Liability
Peter Biging is an accomplished trial and appellate attorney with more than 24 years of experience as a litigator in the state and federal courts of New York. His practice focuses on professional liability work, including the defense of professionals against errors and omissions claims, and defense of malpractice claims against a range of professionals, including attorneys,
insurance agents and brokers, and real estate professionals and property managers, as well as representation of securities broker/dealers and registered representatives in Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA arbitration) proceedings.
Peter’s work has led to a number of significant decisions, including:
• the dismissal of the First Amendment claims of a high school art teacher disciplined for a classroom speech soliciting student participation in a planned art school;
• the conclusion that a student’s story of murder and sex between named students was not protected by the First Amendment;
• the dismissal of a Section 1981 claim alleging discrimination based on religion, and otherwise dismissing Title VII and NY Human Rights Law claims as time-barred;
• the dismissal of claims against a social services agency for violation of due process in connection with the removal of children from foster parents;
• the dismissal of a Section 1983 claim for regulatory taking and defamation in connection with a town’s issuance of notices of hearings for engaging in regulated activity on wetlands without a permit;
• the dismissal of employment discrimination claims as untimely;
• the affirmation of a dismissal of a petition challenging a town planning board’s grant of site plan approval and issuance of SEQRA negative declaration in connection with an application for permission to build a planned retirement community and assisted living facility;
• the finding that it was the duty of an insurer to defend breach of fiduciary duty claims made against a law firm on the part of a legal malpractice insurer, even though the gravamen of complaint sounded in fraud;
• the affirmation of a dismissal of a wrongful death claim against a municipality for allegedly failing to protect decedents from an oncoming train because a police officer had not assumed a “special duty” to protect them;
• the affirmation of a summary judgment award voiding over $200 million in reinsurance due to the fraudulent concealment of a cedent’s insolvency;
• the upholding of the standing of a parent corporation to assert Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims for injuries to diminution in value of stock caused by racketeering activity directed at a subsidiary;
• the denial of dismissal on abstention grounds of a contractual indemnification claim for liabilities of reinsurer based upon proceedings to liquidate a reinsurer;
• the affirmation of a dismissal of libel claim based upon a psychiatric evaluation report to an insurer as protected opinion;
• the affirmation of a dismissal of libel claim based upon a court-ordered report on the mental status of a criminal defendant by a social worker as protected by quasijudicial proceeding immunity.
Peter is a prolific author and presenter on professional liability and coverage issues. He was editor for the American Bar Association’s Professionals’, Officers’, and Directors’ Liability Committee newsletter, was the coauthor of a monthly column devoted to insurance agent and broker errors and omissions for PIA Magazine, and has written an article titled “Developments in Insurance Agents and Brokers Errors and Omissions Liability 2009–2010” to be published in the American Bar Association Tort & Insurance Practice Law Journal’s forthcoming Annual Survey of the Law of Professional Liability.
Professional Affiliations
- American Bar Association, Section of Litigation: Committees on Employment & Labor Relations, Insurance Coverage Litigation, and Professional Liability Litigation
- Professional Liability Underwriting Society
- New York City Bar Association
Honors
- Selected by his peers for inclusion in New York Super Lawyers
Admitted to Practice
- New York
- New York State Supreme Court
- U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
Education
- Queens College, The City University of New York, B.A., cum laude, 1981
- Fordham University School of Law, J.D., 1986
Publications/Presentations
- Author, “What Can We Do About Ben? Examining the Duty to Advise,” National Underwriter P&C, June 25, 2012
- Article, “Courts Shield Agents, Brokers from Added Duties to Procure Coverage,” National Underwriter P&C, April 11, 2011
- Article, “Special Circumstances May Mean Agents, Brokers Owe Greater Duties,” National Underwriter P&C, April 18, 2011
- Presenter, “The Fraud Monster: The Effects of Fraud on Professional Lines Coverage,” Professional Liability Underwriting Society International Conference, November 10, 2010
- Author/presenter, “The Insurance Broker and Coverage Disputes: Emerging Issues,” American Bar Association Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Annual Meeting, March 4–6, 2010
- Author, “Developments in Insurance Agent and Broker E&O: 2007,” ABA’s Professionals’, Officers’, and Directors’ Liability Newsletter, 2008
- Author, “Murder Plot: Can Life Policy Sale Create Liability?,” National Underwriter Magazine, Vol. 109, No. 34, September 12, 2005
- Author, “The Broker’s Liability for Misrepresentations in the Policy Application,” PLUS Journal, Vol. XVIII, No. 3, March 2005
- Author, “Recovery and Calculation of Attorney’s Fees Under Title VII, The Job Description, 2005
- Author, “Agency & Broker E&O: The Year In Review, PLUS Journal, Vol. XVII, Nos. 3 and 4, February–March 2004
- Author, “In Your Corner,” PIA Magazine
- Author, “Tactical Use of State Laws Requiring Unauthorized Insurers to Post Pre-Answer Security,” Tort and Insurance Law Journal, 1996
- Author, “Section 1983 and Actions by Family Members Based on Deprivation of the Constitutional Right to “Family Association” Resulting from Wrongful Death: Who Has Standing?,” Fordham Urban Law Journal, 1986
Partner
Direct – 646.292.8711
Fax – 646.292.8701
Articles by Biging, Peter
Protecting Yourself From Underwriter Mistakes
April 3, 2012
You’re with a corporate client with difficult to place group health insurance coverage, in light of the company’s claims history. When the client’s group health coverage comes up for renewal, you solicit a quote from...
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