James Veach

For more than twenty years, Mr. Veach has concentrated his practice on reinsurance and insurance regulation, litigation, and arbitration. He began his legal career with Kreindler & Kreindler, an aviation products-liability firm located in New York City,  and then joined the New York County District Attorney's Office.   He served under Robert M. Morgenthau in the Office's Appeals Bureau where he argued appeals in both intermediate appellate courts and the New York Court of Appeals.  He later moved to a trial bureau and tried many felony and homicide cases.

In 1983, Mr. Veach joined what was then Rein, Mound & Cotton. He has since handled a variety of insurance and reinsurance disputes arising from property, general liability, surety, political risk, health, errors and omissions policies, and various reinsurance arrangements that reinsured these lines of business.  For the past fifteen years, he has concentrated his practice on insurance and reinsurance regulation and arbitration, as well as insolvency-related matters affecting primary carriers and their reinsurers.  He is a certified ARIAS-U.S. arbitrator. 

Mr. Veach has represented reinsurance intermediaries and brokers.  He has tried disputes between intermediaries over reinsurance brokerage.  He represented a state insurance department in its efforts to recover commissions and brokerage from agents and brokers of an insolvent insurer. He represented other state insurance department in successfully recovering reinsurance balances due an insolvent estate.  He has also advised insurers and reinsurers on licensing issues concerning reinsurance intermediaries, brokers, and agents.

Over the past twenty years, Mr. Veach has represented insurers, reinsurers, brokers, intermediaries, and others in dozens of insurance insolvencies, including those arising from the rehabilitation or liquidation or Frontier (in rehabilitation), Transit Casualty, Executive Life, Delta America Re, P-I-E Insurance Company, the Mission Companies, Millers National, Midland Insurance Company, MCA,  Mutual Fire & Marine, Ambassador,  various syndicates at the New York Insurance Exchange, and other failed entities in Bermuda and London.  See, e.g.,  Corcoran v. Ardra, 156 A.D. 2d 70, 553 NYS 2d 695(1^st Dept 1990) aff'd, 77 N.Y. 2d 225 (1990) cert. denied, Ardra Insurance Co. v Curiale, 500 U.S. 953 (1991).   He is a member of the International Association of Insurance Receivers.

Mr. Veach has represented two New York domiciled companies in their efforts to eliminate capital impairments and avoid insolvency pursuant to NYIL 1321 and Regulation 141.  For a short synopsis of regulation 141 and how it operates, see J. Veach, Viewpoint: Recovery Plan, JTW News (July/August 2005).  He has also been involved in the drafting of disclosure notices and endorsements relating to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act and its recent Extension.  He has commented on and reviewed proposed wording for both primary policies and reinsurance treaties and certificates. 

Mr. Veach is a frequent speaker at insurance and reinsurance conferences and seminars sponsored by Mealey's, American Conference Institute,  IRU,  Executive Enterprises,  the Independent Research Institute.  and the Practicing Law Institute (PLI).  For the past five years he has co-chaired the PLI's Reinsurance Law and Practice Seminar in New York City.

Mr. Veach has represented companies in run-off, as well as run-off managers.  For more than fifteen years he has overseen the run-off of an association of property insurers.  In October 2005, he spoke on the topic of U.S. alternatives to schemes of arrangement at the first Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Run-Off Companies (AIRROC) Conference.  He serves on AIRROC's publications committee.

Mr.Veach contributes to many reinsurance and insurance publications. His articles have appeared in Best's Review, Mealey's Litigation Reports,  JTW News,  Insurance Advocate,  ReActions,  Global Reinsurance, and the Environmental Claims Journal. 

He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and New York University School of Law.  He earned a Masters Degree in International Legal Studies from NYU Law School while serving in the New York District Attorney's Office. He is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey, as well as the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York and the United States Supreme Court. 

Mr. Veach is a member of the New York and New Jersey Bar Associations, the New York County Lawyers' Association, the New York State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the International Insurance Society, the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of New Jersey, and the National Peace Corps Association.