Brian O’Connor

Full Profile

Brian O’Connor is a civil litigation attorney with experience in insurance coverage, surety and fidelity law, construction law, products liability and tortious defense. He defends insurers in complex insurance coverage and liability disputes involving many different types of underlying claims, including traumatic brain injury, asbestos and other toxic tort class actions and products liability claims. Brian frequently represents sureties in the many types of claims that arise out of construction bond defaults, including performance and payment bond claims and claims to enforce sureties’ rights to recover losses based upon subrogation and indemnity rights. 

Brian also brings his prior experience as a clerk in the Civil Division of the United States Attorney’s Office. He aided in representing US Government Agencies in tort, employment, prisoner petition, social security and other cases, and assisted in investigations of potential prisoner’s rights violations and civil enforcement actions of those violations.

Admissions

• Massachusetts
• US District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Education

• J.D., Northeastern University School of Law, 2014
• B.A., Boston College, 2011

Memberships

• Boston Bar Association

Experience

• Represented client insurer before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a dispute over the effect of a “stub” policy period on the policy’s aggregate limit (2022).
• Represented multiple manufacturer and retailer clients in ongoing products liability lawsuits against them from the initial complaint up through discovery.
• Representing insurer in a declaratory action over the insurer’s duty to indemnify claims against its named insured’s successor entity. This ongoing matter presents novel issues regarding corporate succession and its impact on rights under insurance policies.
• Represented insurer seeking reimbursement from its insured for settlement costs paid out for which insured was legally liable. This matter was resolved in 2021.
• Defended client surety companies in construction contract disputes and obtained an advantageous settlement after filing a motion for summary judgment (2021).
• Successfully obtained dismissal of insurance coverage lawsuit for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted (2021)
• Defended multiple insurer clients in a coverage dispute over coverage of an insured sports leagues multi-million dollar class action settlement for traumatic brain injuries, successfully litigating complex discovery issues prior to a successful settlement (2020).