Background
Greg Podolak writes the commercial liability additional
insured issues column for IRMI.com.
Mr. Podolak is the managing partner of SDV Southeast, having practiced his
entire career at SDV as a policyholder coverage lawyer. He has over a decade of
extensive experience in strategizing risk transfer and handles all manner of
concerns for his clients, from assisting with coverage placement and contract
drafting, to litigation with insurers.
Mr. Podolak handles issues involving all lines of coverage, frequently
collaborates with national insurance brokerage firms, and regularly lectures
and authors articles on a variety of insurance coverage topics. He also leads
SDV’s cyber-risk concentration, advising policyholder clients in all industries
facing this expanding exposure. He is also repeatedly recognized as a Super
Lawyers Rising Star and, recently, a recipient of the ALM New Leaders in the
Law award. Mr. Podolak successfully represented Turner Construction Company and
Perini Building Company in a $40 million builders risk lawsuit for damage to a
$900 million hotel and convention center construction project. During the final
stages of construction, a vital structural component of the hotel’s signature
18-story glass atrium failed. The insurance dispute involved complex factual
questions of construction scheduling and business interruption, as well as
unsettled issues of law related to coverage for construction scheduling impact
costs.
He also argued as an amicus curiae on behalf of the information management
industry to the Connecticut Supreme Court in Recall Total Info. Mgmt. v.
Federal Ins. Co., a seminal case for cyber-risk coverage. The case is
substantial in its own right—involving a claim for $6 million in data
breach-related damages—but may also shape the future of available commercial
general liability coverage and the emerging field of cyber-insurance.
Mr. Podolak is active outside the office as well. He has participated in
various local charities, including Lawyers for Children America, where he also
serves as a mentor to other SDV attorneys.
Mr. Podolak received his B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from Iona College and
his J.D. degree, cum laude, from Quinnipiac University School of Law.