Suriano, Costantino P.

Costantino P. Suriano has more than twenty-nine years of experience in domestic and international litigation. His experience includes first- and third-party coverage and claims defense, multi-layered policy defense of complex property and time element, business interruption loss, fire, and property and casualty defense, allocation, exhaustion, and occurrence analysis, all-risk and builder's risk policy analysis and defense, construction project sequence analysis, boiler and machinery, crane collapse accidents, on shore and off shore energy, utility and power generation loss, chemical plant loss, defense of oil company claims, refinery loss and related energy loss, coal mining loss, entertainment and contingency insurance policy defense, satellite loss, weather related and terrorism catastrophes, advices to insurers regarding policy wording and forms, environmental and contamination, property and liability defense, land use, building code upgrade disputes, financial guaranty, retrospective premium, arson and fraud defense, defense of insurers against public transportation agency first-party lawsuits, building collapses, products liability defense, reinsurance arbitration, captive reinsurer disputes, federal multi-district disaster litigations, defense of travel agents, tour operators, resort and camp operator defense and travel professionals, contingency insurer coverage disputes with artists, media, insurer defense in anti-trust brokerage commission class actions, advertising liability coverage and defense, construction accident liability defense and coverage, transportation, commercial disputes, real estate, bankruptcy, secured transactions, lending, and corporate securities litigation.

Mr. Suriano has tried jury cases, including 9/11 second phase jury trial in World Trade Center/Silverstein case, and argued appeals in various state and federal courts. He has litigated international commercial and insurance questions, particularly under Italian, French and Spanish law, represented U.S. clients in foreign insurance and commercial disputes, and assisted foreign clients seeking discovery in the U.S. regarding foreign litigations. Mr. Suriano has represented foreign clients in commercial disputes, administrative and appellate matters involving anti-dumping and countervailing duty matters before the U.S. Department of Commerce, the International Trade Commission, and the U.S. Court of International Trade and Federal Courts of Appeals.

Mr. Suriano has authored articles and lectured on multi-layer approaches to weather related catastrophes, ensuing loss, punitive damages, occurrence issues, letters of credit, and insurance trends. He has represented European commercial entities in negotiating various business agreements and in the formation of branches and subsidiaries in the United States, and applying to U.K. courts for intervention staying U.S. lawsuits.

Mr. Suriano is a graduate of Columbia University and Villanova University Law School. Before joining the firm, Mr. Suriano was an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County. Mr. Suriano was an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Pace University's Lubin Business School. He is fluent in Italian and Spanish. 
 

MEMBERSHIPS/HONORS

• Member of the Firm's Executive Committee
• New York County Lawyers' Association
• Bergen County New Jersey Bar Association
• Consultant to the Loss Executives Association's Board of Directors
• Recognized in Super Lawyers
• Recipient of the Stephen P. Cronin, Jr. Memorial Award
• Public Service - Village of Ridgewood, NJ Planning Board Member (Volunteer)

PUBLICATIONS

• Co-Author, The Calm Before The Solar Storm: Coverage Implications Arising From Solar Events,  January 24th edition of BloombergLaw.com and in the January 30th edition of Bloomberg's Intellectual Property Report.
• Co-Author, "Property Insurance Appraisals:  May Appraisers Consider Causation?" published in the summer 2011 edition of the John Liner Review.
• Co-Author, Coverage Implications Related to the Eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull Volcano, Journal of Reinsurance, Summer 2010, Vol. 17, No. 3.
• Co-Author, "Contingent Business Interruption - The 'Silent' Coverage," Mealey's Litigation Report: Catastrophic Loss, Vol. 4, #11, August 2009.
• Co-Author, "Reflections on Law and Cases Relating to Builder's Risk," Mealey's Litigation Report: Construction Defects Insurance, Volume 6, Issue # 3, April 2009.
• Author, "Is Appraisal Sometimes Better than Litigation?," Mealey's Insurance, July 24, 2008.
• Author, “The Chicken or the Egg: Is One the Ensuing or Resulting Consequence of the Other?”, The New York Law Journal, August 8, 2001.
• Author, “Unique Weather Claims: Snow Removal, Sue & Labor, and Ingress and Egress,” Claims, May, 2000.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

• Panelist, "World Trade Center - 9/11/01 - The Adjustment/Litigation/Settlement Story," New York State Association of Independent Adjusters, Inc. Spring Education Seminar, June 2, 2011.
• Presenter, "Case Law Update - Top Property Loss Topics of 2010," Loss Executive Association's 80th Annual Meeting & Winter Educational Conference, February 3, 2011.
• Workshop Chair, "Ten Top Property Loss Topics of 2010," Loss Executive Association's 79th Annual Meeting & Mid-Winter Educational Program, January 28, 2010.
• Workshop Chair, "Cranes Falling From the Sky," Loss Executive Association's 78th Annual Meeting & Mid-Winter Educational Program, February 2009.
• Speaker, "Energy Losses - Myths and Mysteries," Loss Executive Association Spring Meeting, June 2007.
• Speaker, Excess Surplus Lines Claims Association Annual Conference, October 2006.
• Lecturer at Loss Executive Association, PLRB and other venues on CAT Issues, Business Interruption, Civil Authority, Ingress/Egress, Punitive Damages, Occurrence Issues, Letters of Credit, Reinsurance Trends.

ADMISSIONS
New York, 1981
New Jersey, 1992

EDUCATION
B.A., Columbia University, 1977
J.D., Villanova University Law School, 1980