Ashley B. Jordan

As a partner in her firm's insurance recovery group, Jordan has brought in more than $150 million in policy proceeds for individuals, midsize businesses and Fortune 500 companies. This past year has been exceptionally busy, she said.

Jordan successfully led high-recovery insurance litigation involving large construction projects, major natural disasters, financial services problems and a mass tort case.

"My practice has been extremely busy, and it's only poised for exponential growth in the coming years," Jordan said, citing factors like climate change, cybersecurity attacks and the ever-increasing cost of construction.

Hurricanes are at the center of two of her current large cases. In one, she represents an investment company that has acquired the multimillion-dollar insurance claims of policyholder businesses and condominium associations damaged by 2017's Hurricanes Maria and Irma in Puerto Rico. She helped secure a landmark ruling from the Puerto Rico Supreme Court that allows post-loss claims to be assigned despite anti-assignment provisions in the policies.

In the other, she represented a Florida condo association whose buildings were severely damaged in a Category 5 hurricane. The insurer had denied coverage, but Jordan and her team prepared motions for summary judgment and sanctions that persuaded the company to pay about $8 million. Cresthaven-Ashley Master Association Inc. v. Empire Indemnity Insurance Co., 9:19-cv-80959 (S.D. Fla., filed July 15, 2019).

She reversed another insurer's decision to not cover $20 million in damages from the total loss of an insured's business jet due to a very negligent paint job. With litigation in New York and Florida, Jordan secured global settlements in the fall to cover 90% of the loss.

Currently, she also is seeking insurance coverage for business interruption caused by the pandemic on behalf of California Pizza Kitchen, a small chain of Mexican restaurants and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Most such lawsuits have lost on motions to dismiss. But thanks to a strong complaint and some favorable law in Rhode Island, CPK's insurer didn't file one, Jordan said.

"We do consider that an early victory," she said. "Certainly we have a long way to go, but that is noteworthy considering the current landscape."

- Don DeBenedictis