Joe is a partner in the Hartford office of Morrison Mahoney and has twenty years of experience in trial practice and civil litigation. He represents insurance companies and their insureds, private individuals and businesses, attorneys, and other licensed professionals in matters involving property, homeowner and automobile insurance coverage, insurance fraud investigation, general liability defense, automobile liability defense, bad faith claims, construction, products liability and professional liability.
Joe’s experience includes working closely with insurance companies’ claims professionals and Special Investigation Units (“SIU”) on coverage analysis and complex claim investigations. Joe has also represented several insurance companies during major investigations of medical providers and associated business entities, as well as in subsequent litigation against such parties to recover fraudulently obtained insurance benefits.
Joe has served as lead counsel on nearly fifty civil jury trials and has represented clients in twelve appeals.
Representative Experience
- Obtained numerous defense verdicts in Connecticut and Massachusetts jury trials involving issues of insurance coverage, bad faith, automobile liability and general liability.
- Represented insurance companies in two cases of first impression before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, as well as in other appellate courts on a wide variety of insurance coverage issues
- Reported appellate decisions have included cases involving the coordination of automobile insurance and health insurance benefits, an insurer’s right to conduct an independent medical examination, a secured lender’s right to automobile insurance coverage, a business plaintiff’s burden of proof in a bad faith claim against an insurer, as well as multiple appellate issues under the Massachusetts no-fault automobile insurance statute, including the calculation of lost wage benefits, a plaintiff’s recovery of attorney’s fees, and the applicable statute of limitations
Publications
- “The Occasionally Gray Area of Whether an Injured Motorist Was ‘Occupying’ A Vehicle,” The Standard (March 24, 2017)
Speaking Engagements
- "A Litigation Primer for Property Claim Professionals,” New England Claim Executive Association (NECEA) Monthly Meeting, March 22, 2023
- "A Litigation Primer for Property Claim Professionals,” (private seminar for insurance company client), December 7, 2022
- "Insurance Fraud Investigations and Bad Faith Claims," New England Claim Executive Association (NECEA) Monthly Meeting, November 10, 2020
- Webinar for Insurance Brokers, Property Owners and Property Managers: "Proliferation of Slip and Fall on Snow/Ice Claims," November 2 and 5, 2020
- “Exposing and Prosecuting the Chiropractic Personal Injury Mill,” Florida Insurance Fraud Education Committee (FIFEC) Annual Conference, June 7, 2018
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“Exposing and Prosecuting the Chiropractic Personal Injury Mill,” Florida Insurance Fraud Education Committee (FIFEC) Annual Conference, June 8, 2017
Memberships
- Claim and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM)
- Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS)
- Friends of Harvard Track and Field, Board Member and Former Co-Chair