Edward Allen Gleason, Attorney

Edward W. Gleason, also a partner in the law firm Keegan, Laterza, Lofgren & Gleason, L.L.C., focuses his practice in the areas of insurance, including coverage litigation and counseling, and appellate advocacy. Prior to forming KLLG, Mr. Gleason was a partner in the law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi.  

Mr. Gleason is a member of the Illinois Bar, having been admitted to practice in 1990. He is also admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1990), the Central District of Illinois (1996), the Eastern District of Michigan (1995), the Western District of Michigan (2002) and the Northern District of Indiana (2002). In addition, he is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth (2002), Seventh (1996) and Eighth Circuits (2000). Mr. Gleason earned his J.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1990, where he completed the School's Environmental Law Program. He received his B.A. from Marquette University in 1987.  

In the area of coverage litigation, Mr. Gleason has managed numerous disputes involving first-party property, boiler and machinery, business interruption and third-party liability insurance policies. The subjects of the claims involved in these disputes have ranged from environmental or pollution matters to breakdown of equipment to traditional property losses involving flood, fire and other all risks. Many of these matters have also involved the defense of bad faith claims. Mr. Gleason has also provided legal counseling and representation in other insurance-related matters, including the drafting of insurance policy language, the handling of negligent inspection claims involving state certificate inspections and ASME inspections, Y2K remediation claims, as well as subrogation matters.  

Mr. Gleason has handled several appeals in the state and federal courts of appeal. Representative cases include a successful appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in a dispute involving a flood loss. In that case, the client lost in the trial court and retained Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi to handle the appeal. The issue was whether a sublimit of liability for one flood occurrence applied, or whether the loss was subject to the interruption by civil authority coverage. After finding that the flood sublimit applied, the Eighth Circuit reversed and entered judgment in favor of the carrier. Altru Health System v. American Protection Ins. Co., 238 F.3d 961 (8th Cir. 2001).

Other representative cases/appeals include: Tower Automotive, Inc. v. American Protection Ins. Co., 266 F.Supp.2d 664 (W.D. Mich. 2003) (summary judgment for all-risk/boiler and machinery carrier on its reformation claim and denial of coverage based on contract penalty exclusion); A.M. Castle & Co. v. American Protection Ins. Co., No. 1-01-3166 (Ill.App. 1st Dist. 2002) (summary judgment for all risk carrier in dispute involving exclusion for errors in machine programming or instructions to machines); Jupiter Aluminum Corp. v. Home Ins. Co., 52 F.Supp.2d 885 (N.D. Ill. 1999), aff'd., 225 F.3d 868 (7th Cir. 2000) (enforcement of appraisal award for boiler and machinery carrier and successful prosecution of unjust enrichment claim for overpayment by carrier); Dorsett Brothers Concrete Supply, Inc. v. Northbrook Property and Cas. Ins. Co., No. H-92-2546, 1995 WL 559379 (S.D. Tex. 1995) (summary judgment for third-party carrier on absolute pollution exclusion).