Guyon H. Knight

Guyon H. Knight is a partner at Mound Cotton. He represents insurers and reinsurers in high-stakes coverage and bad faith disputes across the country. He regularly advises clients on complex and high-visibility disputes, particularly ones involving novel issues of substantive and procedural law. Guyon is also a tenacious litigator who zealously represents his clients at every stage of proceedings from initial motion practice through trials and evidentiary hearings, where clients have praised Guyon for “brilliant” cross-examinations.

Before joining Mound Cotton, Guyon served as a law clerk for Judge Sidney H. Stein of the Southern District of New York and Judge Eric L. Clay of the Sixth Circuit. He also worked in the New York offices of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, where he was a partner in the litigation group, and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP.

Honors

• Legal 500 US, 2018, 2021-2022
• International Financial Law Review: Rising Star Awards Americas, Insurance and Reinsurance winner, 2020

Representative Matters

• Obtained dismissal of all claims and reimbursement of policy payments for a global insurance and reinsurance solutions provider in a suit brought under a Professional Liability Insurance Policy by an insurance brokerage company in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. The court found that under California law, the insurance brokerage company failed to state a claim for indemnity and bad faith against the client, arising from their alleged faulty handling of a claim that resulted in a significant jury award against their principal.
• Obtained dismissal on summary judgment of bad faith and breach of contract claims for an independent infrastructure insurance specialist in a case involving a business interruption claim due to a fire at an oil refinery.
• Obtained dismissal of claims raising novel issues of state law brought by the estate of a deceased child against a major international reinsurer.
• Appointed by a major international insurer to represent policyholders in a novel proceeding concerning COVID-19 claims against nursing homes before the New York Litigation Coordinating Panel, where he helped defeat plaintiffs’ attorneys’ request for state-wide consolidation of potentially thousands of tort claims.
• Represents a specialty runoff reinsurer in an arbitration seeking the rescission of a $240 million loss portfolio transfer.
• Advises a major international insurer concerning the Flint water crisis.
• Represented a specialty international reinsurer in arbitration seeking coverage under a $1 billion program for claims arising out of Superstorm Sandy. Guyon’s client was the only reinsurer in the quota-share program who obtained a favorable settlement.
• Obtained the pre-discovery dismissal from a large putative class action concerning “collapse” coverage related to faulty concrete building foundations. Also obtained dismissal of a related test case at summary judgment and affirmance by the Second Circuit, creating favorable precedent for the insurer.

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