Litigation

Cooney, Scully and Dowling enjoys one of the largest civil litigation practices in Connecticut. While perhaps best known as a defense firm, Cooney, Scully and Dowling is active in most areas of civil litigation in state and federal courts. Because of our experience, clients often call on us to represent them in their complex or unique litigation matters in addition to their traditional civil cases. We prosecute and defend appeals arising from our trial practice and have been engaged as appellate counsel on matters handled by other attorneys.

The firm represents the insureds of a number of insurance carriers, including CNA, Travelers, The Hartford, Ohio Mutual, Philadelphia Insurance, Catholic Mutual Group, Liberty Mutual, Great American, and Arch in negligence, products liability, premises, and general liability claims. For many years, we have represented the State of Connecticut in litigation, defending motor vehicle, police pursuit, and defective highway claims.  We also handle cases through several third-party administrators, including Sedgwick, Gallagher Bassett, and Broadspire, and represent Avis Budget Group involving commercial and personal loss claims.  We represent manufacturers of medical devices and other products.

A substantial part of our practice involves defending professional malpractice cases, including claims brought against physicians and surgeons, nurses, psychologists, dentists, health care institutions, attorneys, architects, engineers and other building professionals, real estate appraisers and agents, and insurance agents. We are presently approved as defense counsel for many medical liability insurers such as Integris Group, Chubb/Executive Risk, and MCIC Vermont, as well as non-medical professional liability insurers including CNA and OneBeacon Professional. We have defended many major hospitals, including those associated with Trinity Health of New England, Hartford Healthcare and Yale New Haven Health.  We also represent national nursing home and rehabilitation providers such as Genesis Healthcare and SavaSeniorCare.

In addition to representing the insureds of many insurance companies, we also represent insurance companies directly, providing coverage opinions and representing them as plaintiff or defendant in coverage disputes and in unfair practices and bad faith litigation. Companies for whom we serve as coverage counsel including Fireman’s Fund, Ohio Mutual, New London County Mutual and Philadelphia Insurance.

In our litigation work, we have represented employers before the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and defended them in civil lawsuits. We have represented institutions and individuals before the licensing boards and commissions within the Department of Public Health and other state boards and commissions. While our civil litigation practice is predominantly defense-oriented, we accept selected cases on behalf of individuals who have been seriously injured due to the negligence of others.