Leonard Sarmiento

Full Profile

Leonard Sarmiento focuses his practice on first- and third-party complex insurance coverage disputes and litigation. Lenny counsels and represents domestic and foreign insurers on issues arising under a wide range of insurance policies, including commercial general liability, Bermuda-form excess liability, property and casualty, professional liability, directors and officers liability, errors and omissions coverage, and various specialty coverages.

Lenny has litigated coverage and subrogation actions in state and federal courts, and has successfully argued complex coverage issues on appeal. He has also had success in London arbitrations on behalf of insurers on key coverage issues. Additionally, he has provided pre-suit coverage analysis in the areas of contingency and entertainment, athlete disability, prize indemnity, jeweler's block and other specialty coverages. Lenny has also assisted underwriters in the drafting and editing of policy wording, including project-specific and owner's interest development endorsements, for a major insurance carrier.

Following graduation from law school, Lenny served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Liliana S. DeAvila-Silebi, P.J.S.C., in Bergen County, New Jersey.

Admissions

• New Jersey
• New York

Education

• J.D., cum laude, New York Law School, 2012
• B.A., History, Boston College, 2009

Experience

• Participated as second chair in a bench trial for a major domestic insurer in New York state court.
• Successfully argued in New York state court that a commercial general liability policy was not "issued or delivered" in New York within the meaning of NY Insurance Law § 3420(d)(2).
• Drafted comprehensive OCIP and project-specific endorsements for a major insurance carrier. The assignment encompassed an in-depth review of trending claims and competing policy wording from other insurers.
• Successfully argued on behalf of an insurer for a major security alarm monitoring system that the "first-to-file" rule did not apply in a domestic venue dispute.

Publications

• Published an article examining the current state of drone regulations in the United States and their impact on the insurance industry.