Catherine M. Colinvaux

Catherine represents both plaintiffs and defendants in complex disputes, including insurance coverage matters, reinsurance issues, class actions, and products liability.

Insurance. Catherine has extensive experience advising insurers in both first- and third-party coverage disputes. Her first-party experience includes serving as trial and appellate counsel in the 9/11 World Trade Center coverage litigation. Catherine’s third-party experience includes more than a decade serving as national and coordinating counsel for major third-party liability insurers in multi-million dollar environmental, asbestos, and product defect claims.

Class Actions.  Catherine also has significant experience representing plaintiffs, including recently, in a series of class actions against telecommunications companies and railroads arising out of the defendants’ placement of fiber optic cable on plaintiffs’ land.

Appeals.   Catherine has broad experience in all aspects of the appellate process, including brief-writing, oral argument and appellate procedure.  In addition to serving as appellate counsel in cases where she was involved at the trial level, she is often brought in specifically for purposes of appeals.

Representative Matters

Allianz Insurance Company v. World Trade Center Properties LLC
(Insurance coverage action, including two month jury trial, and related appraisal involving destruction of World Trade Center complex on 9/11 and claims in excess of $7 billion for property damage and time element losses)

Fiber Optic Class Action Litigation  (More than fifty coordinated class actions in which class members alleged trespass by multiple telecommunication company defendants on class members' property via the construction of nationwide fiber optic networks, and sought hundreds of millions of dollars in damages)

Pollution Insurance Claims - representation of a major third-party insurer in all aspects of insurance coverage claims arising out of policyholder pollution liability, including litigation and settlement of multi-million dollar claims

Articles & Presentations

"Experts and Ethics: Are the Rules Changing?" presentation to the ABA's Tort, Trial & Insurance Practice Section, 2005

"Y2K: A Litigator's Perspective", seminar presented to insurance claim adjusters group , Speaker , 1999

"Coverage for Environmental Claims", Minnesota Institute for Legal Education , Co-author , 1995

Professional Affiliations

• Defense Research Institute
• Association of Trial Lawyers of America
• American Bar Association; Tort & Insurance Practice Session
• Boston Bar Association

Noteworthy

Catherine was named one of the “Top 50 Female Massachusetts Super Lawyers” in 2004.  She is also AV rated by Martindale Hubbell.

News

• Zelle Hofmann Lawyers Win Significant 9/11 Insurance Ruling