FRANCINE M. GIUGNO

• Represents commercial general liability insurers, automobile insurers and general liability insurers in all types of insurance defense actions.
• Defense counsel for insurer following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
• Successfully appealed a judgment against an insurer in a Hurricane Katrina case and reduced the award from $4,008,525.25 in compensatory damages and statutory penalties to $282,799.25. It was one of the largest reductions in a Hurricane Katrina case. Chalmette Retail Center, LLC v. Lafayette Insurance Company, 2009-0217 (La. App. 4 Cir. 10/16/09), 21 So.3d 485, writ denied, 2009-2685 (La. 4/9/10), 31 So.3d 392.
• Interprets, advises and provides defense in all types of insurance coverage actions
• Obtains summary judgments in liability and coverage actions.

Extra-Contractual Liability

• Represents insurers against allegations of bad faith claims handling.
• Obtains favorable judgments in bad faith claims handling actions.

Environmental Law/Toxic Torts

• Represents corporations in environmental matters and toxic tort claims.
• Dismissal of claims in summary judgment motions.
• Successfully argued to the Supreme Court of Louisiana that the Comparative Fault Statute applies to wrongful death claims in long latency occupational disease cases instead of contributory negligence, which did not provide for the assessment of fault against bankrupt entities. Landry v. Avondale Industries, Inc. 2003-3432 (La. 7/2/04), 877 So.2d 970.

Premises Liability

• Represents retailers in slip and fall and falling merchandise claims.
• Obtains summary judgments in favor of retailers.
• Obtains a jury verdict in favor of a shopping center against a plaintiff who claimed that she fell in a hole in the parking lot. Quinn v. v. GGS, LLC d/b/a Magnolia Shopping Center et al, 03-682 (La. App. 5 Cir. 12/09/03), 862 So.2d 324.

Municipal Law

• Represented City of New Orleans in utility matters.

Transportation

• Represents commercial motor vehicle carriers in negligence and freight claims.
• Obtains summary judgments in favor of commercial motor vehicle carriers and insurers.

Construction Litigation

• Represents construction companies and insurers in construction defect claims.
• Obtains summary judgments on behalf of construction companies and insurers.
• In a construction defect case, she successfully argued that a general contractor was entitled to a $1,700,000 credit for amounts received by an apartment complex owner from its first party property insurer because the collateral source rule did not apply. Baseline Construction & Restoration of Louisiana, LLC v. Favrot Realty Partnership et al., No. 2007-6429, Division B of Orleans Parish Civil District Court and Writ No. 2011-C-1178, Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal

Francine was elected President of the League of Women Voters of New Orleans in 2013 -2014. She was also Co-Chair of the Education Sub-Committee of the Construction Committee of the Claims & Litigation Management Alliance as well as the Vice-President of the New Orleans Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction. In 2009, she graduated from the Metropolitan Leadership Forum.

• Co-Author, “Be Aware of Significant Revisions to ISO’s 2013. Additional Insured Endorsements,” CLM Litigation Management Magazine (Winter 2015).
• Co-Author, “Spreading the Risk: Use of Indemnification Provisions and Commercial General Insurance Coverage,” CLM Litigation Management Magazine (Winter 2014).

Speaking Engagements

• Speaker - “The Emerging Trends in Slip and Fall Jurisprudence,” Retail, Restaurant & Hospitality Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, Dallas, Texas (February, 2014).
• Speaker - “Emerging Issues Regarding the Effect of the 2013 ISO Amendments to the Additional Insured Endorsements on Construction Litigation,” Construction & Environmental Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, Boston, Massachusetts (August, 2014).

• New Orleans City Business Leadership in Law Award, 2010
• Former Co-Chair of the Education Sub-Committee of the Construction Committee of the Claims & Litigation Management Alliance
• Former Vice-President, National Association of Women in Construction, New Orleans Chapter
• Orleans Chamber of Commerce
• Jefferson Parish Chamber of Commerce
• Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel
• The Risk Management Society
• President, League of Women Voters 2013-2014
• Committee chair, League of Women Voters 2015

• Louisiana State Bar Association, 1996
• New York Bar, 2009

• Tulane University Law School, J.D., 1996
• John Carroll University, B.A., 1991