Peter R. Kahana

Biography

Peter R. Kahana is Of Counsel in the Insurance and Antitrust practice groups. He concentrates his practice in complex civil and class action litigation involving relief for insurance policyholders and consumers of other types of products or services who have been victimized by fraudulent conduct and unfair business practices.

Significant class cases vindicating the rights of insurance policyholders or consumers in which Mr. Kahana was appointed as co-class counsel have included: settlement in 2012 for $90 million of breach of fiduciary duty and negligence claims (certified for trial in 2009) on behalf of a class of former policyholder-members of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. (“Anthem”) alleging the class was paid insufficient cash compensation in connection with Anthem’s conversion from a mutual insurance company to a publicly-owned stock insurance company (a process known as “demutualization”) (Ormond v. Anthem, Inc., et al., USDC, S.D. Ind., Case No. 1:05-cv-01908 (S.D. Ind. 2012)); settlement in 2010 for $72.5 million of a nationwide civil RICO and fraud class action (certified for trial in 2009) against The Hartford and its affiliates on behalf of a class of personal injury and workers compensation claimants for the Hartford’s alleged deceptive business practices in settling these injury claims for Hartford insureds with the use of structured settlements (Spencer, et al. v. The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., et al., 256 F.R.D. 284 (D. Conn. 2009)); settlement in 2009 for $75 million of breach of contract, Unfair Trade Practices Act and insurance bad faith tort claims on behalf of a class of West Virginia automobile policyholders (certified for trial in 2007) alleging that Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company failed to properly offer and provide them with state-required optional levels of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company v. O’Dell, et al., Circuit Court of Roane County, W. Va., Civ. Action No. 00-C-37); and, settlement in 2004 for $20 million on behalf of a class of cancer victims alleging that their insurer refused to pay for health insurance benefits for chemotherapy and radiation treatment (Bergonzi v. CSO, USDC, D.S.D., Case No. C2-4096). For his efforts in regard to the Bergonzi matter, Mr. Kahana was named as the recipient of the American Association for Justice’s Steven J. Sharp Public Service Award, which is presented annually to those attorneys whose cases tell the story of American civil justice and help educate state and national policymakers and the public about the importance of consumers’ rights.

Mr. Kahana has also played a leading role in major antitrust and environmental litigation, including cases such as In re Brand Name Prescription Drugs Antitrust Litigation ($723 million settlement), In re Ashland Oil Spill Litigation ($30 million settlement), and In re Exxon Valdez ($287 million compensatory damage award and $507.5 million punitive damage award). In connection with his work as a member of the trial team that prosecuted In re The Exxon Valdez, Mr. Kahana was selected in 1995 to share the Trial Lawyer of the Year Award by the Public Justice Foundation.