Richard (Rich) Nichols has vast experience prosecuting property subrogation claims, coverage disputes, and declaratory judgment actions for nationally known insurers.  He is an accomplished trial attorney and has tried personal injury, subrogation, property coverage defense, and third-party liability matters for decades.  Rich is licensed in New York and New Jersey and certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney.

Rich has successfully represented insurance carriers, including State Farm, Chubb, AIG, Aspen American, Greenwich Insurance, Indian Harbor, Cigna, Ace, USLI, and the New Jersey Insurance Underwriters Association, in numerous reported court decisions. In Thomas v. New Jersey Ins. Underwriting Association, 277 N.J. Super. 630 (Law Div. 1994), he obtained a ruling that fraud in a first-party claim, discovered while in litigation after a claim is denied on other grounds, may invalidate coverage.  In Cobra Products, Inc. v. Federal Ins. Co., 317 N.J. Super.. 392 (App. Div. 1998), the Court  held the “employee dishonesty” exclusion found in a Chubb policy to be unambiguous and enforceable.  In Sherwood Products v. Connecticut Indemnity Co., 359 N.J. Super. 510 (App. Div. 2002), New Jersey’s Appellate Division upheld the dismissal of an insured’s claim for failure to abide by the record-keeping requirements of a jeweler’s block policy.  Notably, in Orlick v. J.D. Carton & Son, Inc., 144 F. Supp. 2d 337 (D.N.J. 2001), he successfully argued that plaintiff’s claim against a moving company was governed by the federal Carmack Amendment.  

Over the years, Rich has lectured at continuing education seminars to insurance carriers and fellow attorneys on subjects including compliance with New Jersey’s Unfair Claims Practices Act and protecting the carrier’s subrogation interests.  He is actively involved in community service providing ongoing pro bono counseling for victims of domestic violence with the Battered Women’s Legal Advocacy Project and volunteering with the Market Street Mission, in Morristown, New Jersey.