Neil V Mody
Neil.Mody@kennedyslaw.com
+1 908 647 8390
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Profile
Education
- Seton Hall University School of Law, JD, 2001
- Seton Hall University, BS (cum laude), 1998
Neil Mody is a partner in the Basking Ridge office and is admitted to practice law in the state and federal courts of New York and New Jersey.
For more than twenty years, Neil has represented insurance companies in high-exposure litigated matters impacting virtually all lines of insurance, including property, casualty, personal, excess, marine, contractors, environmental, cyber, tech, financial, fiduciary, and management liability exposures. Neil is also frequently sought out by clients for counseling related to novel and complex legal principles and claims.
Neil has also been a founder and creator of technology and innovation solutions designed to assist insurance claim professionals. He joins the US steering committee for Kennedys IQ, the firm’s affiliated technology company that offers innovative solutions to firm insurer clients in claim handling and related operations. Neil regularly presents and provides continuing legal education on emerging insurance coverage issues for industry trade groups and clients.
Memberships
- NJ Ethics Committee
- Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (FDCC)
- Property Liability Research Bureau (PLRB)
- Asian American Insurance Network (AAIN)
- South Asian Bar Association (SABA)
Qualifications and admissions
- New Jersey
- New York
- US District Court, New Jersey
- US District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York
Market recognition
- Recognized by Best Lawyers in America, Insurance Law (2023-2024)
- Recognized by Leaders in Law, NJBIZ (2023)
- Recognized in New Jersey's Most Influential DEI Leaders, ROI-NJ (2021)
- Recognized in Diverse Attorneys of the Year, New Jersey Law Journal (2017)
- Recognized as a “Rising Star” by New Jersey Super Lawyers (2014-2016)
- Recognized in New Leaders of the Bar, New Jersey Law Journal (2015)
- Recognized in Forty under 40, NJBIZ (2014)
Work highlights
- Successfully argued before the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to obtain precedential ruling upholding fortuity requirement and principles of uberrimai fidei under marine insurance policy in complex coverage dispute arising from sunken yacht
- Successfully argued before New Jersey Appellate Division to secure affirmation of previously achieved no-cause coverage ruling on behalf of property insurer in bad faith litigation pursuant to “first-to-settle rule” arising from multi-million dollar fire claim
- Obtained dispositive insurer ruling authorizing full policy exhaustion to effectuate good faith settlement on behalf of named insured arising from high-exposure mall shooting
- Represented insurers in significant environmental, asbestos and toxic tort coverage actions involving hundreds of thousands of underlying claims and excess of $1 billion in exposures
- Achieved dispositive ruling based on application of South Carolina pollution exclusion law negating coverage for US $40 million in environmental liabilities
- Achieved dispositive rulings dismissing policyholders' high exposure, toxic bodily injury coverage claims in New York courts
- Litigated and counseled clients in connection with novel waiver claims and defenses arising from New York Insurance Law 3420 and related priority disputes
Presentations and publications
- Co-author, “Not enough slices of the pie: Handling multiple claims and insufficient policy limits,” published for Kennedys (December 2024)
- “Climate impact on insurance,” presented at the Center for Research Toward Advancing Financial Technologies 2024 Industry Advisory Board Meeting at Stevens Institute of Technology (October 2024)
- “Ethics of primary vs. excess disputes,” In-House Client Training (March 2023)
- “Ethics of AI in insurance,” In-House Client Training (December 2023)
- “Understanding cyber insurance: What every attorney should know,” presented for the New Jersey State Bar Association (June 2023)
- “Playing nicely in the sandbox – Issues between primary and excess carriers,” presented at the USLAW Network (March 2023)
- “What lawyers need to know about cyber insurance,” presented for the New Jersey State Bar Association (March 2023)
- “Litigating first-party property disputes,” presented to NJDA (March 2023)
- Co-author, “Breaking bad faith: Does legislating private causes of actions against insurers do more harm or good?” published for USLAW Magazine (June 2022)
- "Don't just check the box: Avoid DE&I fatigue by fully incorporating initiatives into company DNA," presented at the USLAW Network (September-October 2021)
- Author, "Making a difference through diversity, equity & inclusion," published for COMMERCE Magazine (February 2021)
- "The critical role of insurance in the time of Covid-19," presented at the USLAW Network Worldwide Virtual Retreat: 2021 and Beyond (October 2020)
- "Insuring 2030," presented at the USLAW Network Client Conference (March 2019)
Report decisions
- Chartis Property Casualty Corporation v. Inganamort, 953 F.3d 231 (3d Cir., Mar. 24, 2020)
- Doitch v. Khatri, Docket No. A-3513-13T1 (N.J. App. Div., Sept. 3, 2015), aff’d, 2016 N.J. Lexis 60 (2016)
- Tirado v. New Jersey Manufacturer Insurance Co., No. MON-L-3003-13 (N.J. Super. Ct., 2014)
Insurance and reinsurance