Kevin F. Harris advises insurance carriers on complex disputes across commercial general liability (CGL), products/life sciences liability, professional liability, and cyber liability. His work in these areas has produced notable results, including a unanimous Kentucky Supreme Court ruling which established a new precedent and defeated a $28 million malicious prosecution claim.
A contributor to BatesCarey’s Opioid Coverage Task Force, Kevin monitors and analyzes lawsuits filed by state and local governments nationwide against pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and retail pharmacies, assessing coverage implications risk exposure for insurer clients across the country. As part of the Task Force, he has secured favorable rulings in multi-billion-dollar opioid litigation matters
Kevin has also worked closely with insurers seeking to tailor their product offerings to account for emerging risks and market trends through the development of new policy forms, product lines, form and manuscript endorsements, and underwriting materials dealing with clinical testing, artificial intelligence, digital privacy, PFAS (“forever chemicals”), and controlled substances.Prior to joining BatesCarey, Kevin gained significant international business and legal experience while working in China for Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Co. in Shanghai, and in the Beijing offices of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.
Colemon v. Westport Ins. Co., 727 S.W.3d 371 (Ky. 2025) The Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed appellate ruling that defeated a $28 million insurance claim and established Kentucky precedent that malicious prosecution “personal injury” “occurs” only on date of wrongful charging, and that insurance is not continuously triggered during the subsequent years of suffering and deprivation of rights.
In re AmerisourceBergen Corp. (n/k/a Cencora) Del. Ins. Litig., 2024 WL 5203047 (Del. Super. Ct. Dec. 23, 2024) Obtained ruling that terms of six billion dollar global settlement agreement negotiated by insured did not establish duty to indemnify where underlying claims did not allege damages “because of bodily injury” triggering a duty to defend.
Publix Super Markets, Inc. v. ACE Prop. and Cas. Ins. Co., et al., No. 8:22-cv-2569 (MD Fla. Oct. 29, 2024) Achieved ruling that multi-billion-dollar governmental opioid lawsuits present generalized economic losses and do not seek to impose covered liability for damages “because of bodily injury” where there is no claim to prove causation or damages for any individual’s injury.
Under the Influencers: The Scope of Media Coverage in the Digital Age (February 28, 2024)
Never Meta Pixel They Didn’t Like: Meta Pixel Litigation and Coverage Overview (April 23, 2024)
Oh Split! Appellate Courts Weigh in on Meta Pixel Litigation (May 7, 2025)
“What Conn. Opioid Ruling Means for Liability Insurers” Law 360 Insurance Expert Analysis (January 15, 2018)
“Settlement Aspirations Enter the Opioid MDL” Law360 Expert Analysis (January 10, 2018)
“MDL Hearing Signals a New Phase in Opioid Suits” Law360 Expert Analysis (December 1, 2017)
“Big Pharma Faces Insurance Hurdles in Opioid Suits” Law360 Insurance Newsletter (November 8, 2017)
“The Opioid Epidemic: As the Pharmaceutical Industry Is Targeted, Will It Be Covered by Insurance?” Mealey’s Emerging Insurance Disputes (July 6, 2017)
“Oppressive Conduct and Failure to Follow Court Orders Leads to Punitive Damages Against Shareholder’s Estate” Illinois State Bar Association Business and Securities Law Newsletter (June 2015)