Elliot advises and represents clients in a broad range of insurance coverage and commercial litigation matters, including commercial general liability, property damage, personal injury, and environmental claims. He assists clients in evaluating the legal and factual issues in first-party and third-party insurance coverage disputes, including interpretation of policy provisions, and he also defends clients in complex litigation arising in both federal and state courts.
Elliot previously served as a staff attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, where he assisted federal appellate judges in both civil and criminal cases. Before joining Cozen O'Connor, Elliot handled a wide variety of civil litigation matters, including representing domestic and international insurers in coverage disputes and construction defect claims and defending insureds against personal injury and property damage claims. Prior to law school, Elliot was a rabbinic intern in Atlanta, where he rendered rabbinic legal decisions and delivered lectures on matters of Jewish law and philosophy.
Elliot earned his law degree, with honors, from Emory University School of Law and his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Beth Medrash Govoha.
News
August 17, 2023
Best Lawyers selected 232 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 24 of the firm’s U.S. offices for inclusion in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
March 20, 2023
Cozen O'Connor is proud to announce the promotion of 29 attorneys to member.
August 22, 2022
210 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 24 of the firm’s nationwide offices for inclusion in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
July 28, 2022
Cozen O’Connor is pleased to announce Elliot Kerzner, an associate in the firm’s Insurance Department, has been appointed secretary of the Greater Atlanta Chapter of the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM).
August 19, 2021
Best Lawyers selected 210 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 23 of the firm’s nationwide offices for inclusion in the 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
August 20, 2020
Best Lawyers selected 200 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 23 of the firm’s nationwide offices for inclusion in the 2021 edition of The Best Lawyers in America© (Copyright 2020 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, SC).
Publications
July 28, 2022
The Tenth Circuit recently held that, under Kansas law, an intentional loss exclusion precludes coverage for damage caused by an intentionally set fire even if the actual resulting damage is unintended. In Taylor et al. v. LM Insurance Corp., Case No. 20-3166 (10th Cir. Jul. 11, 2022), the named...
June 30, 2022
Alycen A. Moss and Elliot Kerzner wrote an expert analysis column titled, “Property Insurance Coverage Can Hinge On 'Riot' Or 'Protest'” for Law360.
June 03, 2022
A new California Court of Appeal decision, Ghukasian v. Aegis Sec. Ins. Co., 78 Cal.App.5th 270 (2022), see our Alert here, affirms that a mistaken belief about the right to clear land does not transform an insured’s intentional acts into an “occurrence.” This is despite some policyholders’...
May 27, 2022
A California appellate court recently ruled that an intentional act may not be an "occurrence" even when there is no intent to cause harm.
May 26, 2022
Alycen Moss and Elliot Kerzner co-authored the article “Coverage Issues Regarding Riots, Civil Commotion, and Curfews” for the Spring 2022 issue of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel’s Insights magazine.
May 04, 2022
According to a recent ruling by a New York appellate court, coverage for excavation damage is precluded by the policy’s earth movement exclusion. In 3502 Partners LLC v. Great American Insurance Co. of New York, Case No. 2021-03449 (N.Y. App. 1st Dep’t Apr. 21, 2022), an insured sued its insurer...
April 11, 2022
Accepting coverage for part of a claim may subject an insurer to a policy’s appraisal process when the extent of covered damage is in dispute, according to a recent ruling issued by the Eastern District of Tennessee. In Morrow v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., Case No. 1:21-CV-00133-DCLC-CHS, 2022...
March 23, 2022
A policy renewal requires a living insured to form a valid insurance contract, the Sixth Circuit recently ruled. In Boby Davis, et al. v. Westfield Ins. Co., Case No. 21-2797 (6th Cir. Mar. 14, 2022), Della Shields received a yearly homeowner’s insurance policy covering her home in Muskegon,...
January 19, 2022
The Second Circuit has now joined the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits in holding that no insurance coverage exists for business interruption losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated government orders. In 10012 Holdings Inc. v. Sentinel Insurance...
November 02, 2021
An insurer has won the first jury trial on coverage for Covid-19 business interruption losses after a federal jury in the Western District of Missouri issued a verdict in favor of The Cincinnati Insurance Company in K.C. Hopps Ltd. v. Cincinnati Insurance Co., Case No. 4:20-cv-437 (W.D. Mo. 2021)....
October 08, 2021
A district court in Montana recently applied an anti-concurrent clause in a property insurance policy to preclude coverage based on an earth movement exclusion. In Ward v. Safeco Ins. Co. of Amer., No. 1:19-CV-0133-SPW, 2021 WL 3492294 (D. Mont. Aug. 9, 2021), the insured’s tenant reported that...
September 01, 2021
In the second federal appellate ruling on Covid-19 business losses, the Eleventh Circuit has joined the Eighth Circuit in holding that they do not trigger coverage because they do not involve “physical loss” or “physical damage” to property. In Gilreath Family & Cosmetic Dentistry Inc. v....
August 31, 2021
The Court of Appeals of Georgia recently held that an insurer’s reliance on the report of an independent consultant creates a presumption that it did not act in bad faith in denying coverage. In Montgomery v. Travelers Home and Marine Ins. Co., 859 S.E.2d 130 (Ga. Ct. App. 2021), the insured made a...
August 17, 2021
In determining when the work product doctrine is triggered, the Northern District of Illinois recently held that, rather than adopting a bright-line rule, the issue should be decided on a case-by-case basis at the court’s discretion. In Club Gene and Georgetti, LP v. XL Insurance America, Inc., No....
July 21, 2021
Flood exclusions may not apply when floods are preceded by winds strong enough to independently cause the loss, according to a recent decision issued by the Western District of Louisiana. In Doxey v. Aegis Security Ins. Co., No. 2:21-CV-00825, 2021 WL 2383834 (W.D. La. Jun. 10, 2021), an insured...
July 12, 2021
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that, under Iowa law, an insurer is not liable for breach of contract or bad faith if its coverage decision was objectively reasonable at the time it was made. In Hallmark Specialty Ins. Co. v. Phoenix C & D Recycling, Inc., No. 20-1339, 2021 WL...
July 06, 2021
Alycen A. Moss and Elliot Kerzner discuss the Eighth Circuit's decision in Oral Surgeons, P.C. v. The Cincinnati Insurance Company.
June 28, 2021
The
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that, under Georgia law, an
appraisal process tolled a commercial property policy’s two-year contractual
suit limitation period even for non-covered claims. In Omni Health
Solutions, LLC v. Zurich Am. Ins. Co., No. 19-12406, 2021 WL 2025146...
June 21, 2021
A
Florida court recently held that rust and corrosion of water pipes is an “act
of nature,” and, thus, was excluded from coverage under a homeowner’s insurance
policy. In Dodge v. People’s Trust Insurance Company, 2021 WL 2217299
(4th DCA Jun. 2, 2021), Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeals...
June 09, 2021
Insurers in South
Carolina may now depreciate both labor costs and material costs when
determining the “actual cash value” (ACV) owed to policyholders for property
damage. In Miriam Butler et al. v.
Travelers Home and Marine Insurance Co. et al., Case No. 2020-001285 (S.C.
May 12, 2021), the South...
May 28, 2021
An insurer can no longer claim its lack of notice of a lawsuit against its insured excuses it for failing to settle the suit after the Georgia Supreme Court’s recent decision in GEICO Indemnity Co. v. Whiteside, Case No. S21Q0227 (Ga. April 19, 2021). In Whiteside, the Georgia Supreme Court held...
April 16, 2021
The
Southern District of New York recently held that a contamination exclusion was
ambiguous in the context of Covid-19-related business interruption losses.
Accordingly, the court held that the issue was inappropriate to decide at the
summary judgment stage and denied both parties’ cross-motions...
March 05, 2021
Alycen Moss and Elliot Kerzner published an article in Best's Review titled, "Protests, Riots Raise Questions of Civil Authority Coverage" discussing property damage from the riots following the death of George Floyd in May 2020.
August 20, 2020
The Eleventh Circuit has provided some clarity to Florida businesses and their insurers dealing with COVID-19 claims. In Mama Jo’s Inc., d.b.a. Berries v. Sparta Ins. Co., No. 18-12887 (11th Cir. March 18, 2020), the Court held that a restaurant’s lost income and extra cleaning costs due to nearby...