David J. Creagan

In his commercial litigation practice, David has represented biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, oil and gas pipeline companies, railroads, consumer products manufacturers, D&O insurers, property insurers, and banking and financial services companies. He has helped clients reach successful outcomes in securities fraud and other federal and state securities litigation, in SEC and FTC investigations, in private antitrust and unfair competition suits, in intellectual property licensing disputes, in D&O coverage litigation, and in shareholder disputes and other corporate governance matters.

David has successfully defended a number of publicly traded biotechnology, financial services, and insurance companies in securities and antitrust class actions, and a medical device manufacturer in a product liability class action. He has also represented clients in class action opt-out cases brought after the successful resolution of the class claims.

David has been first chair trial counsel in federal and state courts, and in AAA, ARIAS, and international arbitrations. He has argued and won cases on appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in product liability, financial, and insurance cases. He has significant experience in international arbitration and litigation, including taking and coordinating discovery abroad.

David has represented reinsurers and ceding companies in disputes involving varied claims under pro rata, excess-of-loss, stop-loss and clash treaties, and under facultative certificates and financial risk reinsurance contracts. Issues he has handled include accumulation, allocation, retentions, follow-the-fortunes, reinstatements, additional premium, offsets, and deficit-carry-forward and aggregate extension clauses. David has secured wins for reinsurers and cedents in arbitrations that have gone to final hearing in the United States and Bermuda. He has also successfully litigated reinsurance disputes in federal district court, and has argued and won appeals from reinsurance arbitration awards in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Before practicing law, David was a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State for nine years, serving at United States embassies abroad and as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of State. He is a recipient of the Department of State's Superior Honor Award.

• Achieved a favorable result for a client M&A insurer in the first-ever AAA arbitration regarding a representations and warranties policy
• Achieved settlements favorable to a private mortgage insurer in litigation and multiple AAA arbitrations regarding the underwriting and credit quality of pools of subprime and Alt-A mortgages
• Represented a biopharmaceutical company in a securities fraud class action that resulted in a very favorable settlement for the company
• Won summary judgment on all claims for a biopharmaceutical company in an opt-out securities fraud lawsuit
• Defeated class certification against a national title insurance company in a state-wide class action, leading to dismissal of the case
• Successfully argued in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for judgment as a matter of law on all claims for a medical device manufacturer, after winning partial summary judgment on the eve of trial
• Won dismissal at pleading stage of state-wide class action alleging overcharges against one of the largest pharmacy benefits managers
• Reached a successful outcome for outside directors in a mediation of a suit brought in state court alleging breaches of fiduciary duty
• Represented a private equity fund in a common-law fraud case that eventuated in a directed verdict for the fund.
• Negotiated a favorable result for a broker and former broker in FINRA enforcement actions
• Achieved a favorable settlement for a major pharmaceutical company mid-way through a AAA arbitration concerning intellectual property rights and contractual duties of good faith and fair dealing
• Obtained a final award of all requested relief for a ceding company in an arbitration over the scope of coverage under an excess-of-loss facultative certificate
• Won summary judgment for a pool of reinsurers in an arbitration involving allocation of losses to multiple treaty years
• Successfully moved to vacate a final award against a retrocedent in an arbitration involving interpretation of a financial risk treaty, and won the ensuing appeal wherein the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s vacatur
• Represented a pool of reinsurers in an arbitration involving the accumulation of claims and the availability of aggregate excess cover