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Experience
In her 25 years in practice, Louise has established a diverse litigation practice that focuses on complex contracts litigation, principally in the insurance and energy industries.
Insurance
Louise has represented both insurance companies and insureds in virtually every type of insurance coverage litigation from general liability to property loss to directors and officers liability. Her active litigation practice in the federal and state courts includes declaratory judgment actions, breach of contract, and extra-contractual litigation. Early in her career, Louise principally represented insurance carriers; for example, for more than 15 years, Louise was Maine coverage counsel for State Farm Mutual Insurance Company, as well as representing the Company on any suit against State Farm in Maine, including for extra-contractual liability. More recently her focus has shifted to representing insureds, particularly corporate clients in disputes with their carriers. In addition to litigating cases, Louise regularly renders opinions to clients on all types of insurance matters, including property loss, automobile policies, liability insurance, D&O coverage and regulatory issues. She is a founding member of the Insurance Coverage Section of the Maine State Bar Association and regularly gives presentations on insurance for both bar organizations and clients. Most recently, she presented How to Identify and Mitigate Risks for your Real Estate Clients with Insurance and Other Methods (2006) and Insurance and Risk Management Tools for the MSBA Business Institute (2004).
Reported decisions include:
. AutoEurope v. Connecticut Indemnity, 321 F.3d 60 (1st Cir. 2003); successful representation of insured (including award of attorneys fees), which focused on choice of law issues relating to multi-state risk insureds.
. Cambridge Mut. Ins. Co. v. Patriot Mut. Ins. Co. 323 F.Supp.2d 95 (D. Me. 2004); achieved summary judgment for insurer relating to the authority of insurance producer to bind property coverage.
· Furey v. Executive Risk Indemnity, 2001 WL 664665 (D. Me. June 13, 2001); successful Motion to Dismiss the claims against the D&O excess carrier arising out of bankruptcy proceeding.
· Johnson v. Allstate Ins. Co., 687 A.2d 642 (Me. 1997); affirmed that insurer had no duty to indemnify insured on negligent supervision claim in sexual assault context.
· Maurice v. State Farm Automobile Insurance Co., 235 F.3d 7 (1st Cir 2000); enforced other owned vehicle exclusion in uninsured motorist policy for insurer.
· State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Shorey, 2004 WL 1781240 (D. Me. 2004), criminal conviction of aggravated assault precludes coverage for liability insurance for automobile collision.
· Stetson v. PFL Ins. Co., 16 F.Supp.2d 28 (D. Me. 1998); defeated carrier’s motion to dismiss on ERISA pre-emption grounds for individual health insured.
· VanHaaren v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 989 F.2d 1 (1st Cir. 1993); upheld denial of coverage for insured’s breach of obligation to submit to independent medical examination.
Energy Industry
Since Louise started practice, she has regularly represented public utilities on a wide range of their litigation needs. Early on, these representations included personal injury cases such as electrocutions resulting from contact with electric utility equipment, as well as litigation involving tariffs for telephone companies. Over the past decade, Louise has been lead counsel in many cases involving power purchase contracts and joint ownership of generation facilities, bringing to bear her general expertise in contract law and her specific expertise in analyzing the impact of state and federal energy regulation upon such contracts. For example, Louise was lead counsel in a commercial arbitration between joint owners of a fossil-fuel generating facility, over contract rights to proceeds of lead owner’s mandatory divestiture of $846 million of electrical general assets. This litigation involved application of general contract principles to interpret the agreement for joint ownership of generating facility participants in a regional power pool, as well as substantial issues concerning the valuation of generating assets. As lead counsel in several disputes between an electrical utility and non-utility generators she has dealt with issues ranging from termination rights, contract valuation, interpretation of various adder provisions, and application of avoided-cost rate provisions in restructured electricity markets.
Louise was the lead attorney in the California state government's audit of the $43 billion worth of long-term power contracts the state entered during its energy crisis in 2001. (www.bsa.ca.gov/bsa/summaries/2001-009)
Since August 2002, Louise and a team of Pierce Atwood litigators have represented the California Electricity Oversight Board at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in California's action to reform those $43 billion contracts as unjust and unreasonable, Docket No. EL02-60-003. The Ninth Circuit recently granted California's appeal and remanded this matter back to FERC (Public Commission of the State of California v. FERC, Docket No. 03-74207). In addition, Louise has represented the California Department of Water Resources in its efforts to obtain refunds for its $5+ billion in spot market purchases during the energy crisis. The Ninth Circuit also recently decided this appeal in the California parties' favor (Public Commission of the State of California v. FERC, 462 F.3d 1027).
Education
A Maine native, Louise received her B.A. degree from Cornell University (1974) and her J.D., cum laude, from the University of Maine School of Law (1977).
Professional Activities
Louise has been trained and has served on the American Arbitration Association roster as a commercial arbitrator. Louise serves on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court Advisory Committee on Rules of Civil Procedure, which revises the Civil Rules and presented Developments in Civil Procedures, to the Maine State Bar Association in 2000. She served on the Continuing Legal Education Committee of the Maine State Bar Association, which provides educational programming for attorneys in Maine and which she chaired in 1998. From 1989 through 1996, she served on the Court’s Advisory Committee on Professional Responsibility, serving as the chair from 1994 to 1996. Currently she serves on the Maine Task Force to Study Model Rules of Professional Conduct in an effort to conform the Maine Bar rules to the ABA Rules of Professional Responsibility. For over ten years she has presented programs and papers on legal ethics to state and local bar associations, as well as to law firms. Most recently, she developed Ethical Duties and the Problem of Attorney Impairment which she has presented in Maine, New Hampshire and Utah, as well as at the ABA Annual Meeting of the Commission on Lawyers Assistance Programs (October 2005).
Publications
Louise has published numerous articles including: "Ethics and the Problems of Attorney Impairment" (presented to ABA COLAP, Utah Bar Association and numerous law firms) (2005-06); "California Lessors in Power Purchase Contracting and Evaluation" (presented to National Conference of Regulatory Counsel) (2003); Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage (presented and revised at Maine State Bar and Maine Trial Lawyer programs in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999); Winning Strategies in Defending Uninsured Motorist Claims (2001).
Bar Admissions
Louise is admitted to practice in New Hampshire, Maine, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
Practice Areas
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Litigation
Related Practice Areas
Energy Litigation
Workers' Compensation
Representative Matters
AutoEurope v. Connecticut Indemnity
California Electricity Oversight Board (Contract Renegotiation)
California Electricity Oversight Board v. Sellers of Energy (FERC Litigation)
Cambridge Mut. Ins. Co. v. Patriot Mut. Ins. Co.
Central Maine Power Company
Furey v. Executive Risk Indemnity
Johnson v. Allstate Ins. Co.
Maurice v. State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Co.
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