Elizabeth Leong

Elizabeth R. Leong

Counsel

Elizabeth R. Leong

Counsel

  • Overview

    Biography

    Elizabeth R. Leong is a member of the firm's Litigation Section, where she focuses her practice on complex business litigation.

    Ms. Leong has extensive experience representing clients in complex commercial matters involving business torts, contractual rights, unfair and deceptive trade practices, antitrust, and products liability issues. She has handled many class actions, including matters involving ERISA, antitrust, and products liability claims. She also has experience defending religious organizations against vicarious liability and negligence claims arising out of abuse allegations. 

    Ms. Leong also represents and advises numerous insurance companies in first-party insurance coverage litigation. She regularly defends insurance companies against property insurance coverage, business interruption, bad faith and unfair claim settlement practices claims. 

    Prior to joining Robinson+Cole, Ms. Leong was an associate with a major law firm in New York where she was involved in complex commercial and trademark infringement litigation.

  • Experience
    • Experience

      Experience

      • Won summary judgment for insurer under professional liability policy in action where insured sought coverage for assault committed by its employee against its customer. The court granted summary judgment in insurer's favor, holding that the assault was not a "professional service" within the meaning of the policy and that the policy's criminal acts exclusion barred coverage.
      • Represented plaintiff class of managerial employees and retirees of Fortune 100 company in action brought under ERISA seeking to recover approximately $4 billion of lost value in company stock held in 401(k) plan. A favorable settlement was obtained for the class.
      • Represented commercial property insurers in several multimillion-dollar cases involving business interruption and property damage losses sustained due to Hurricane Katrina. Successfully briefed Daubert motion to exclude bad faith expert (654 F.Supp.2d 518) and motion for partial summary judgment as to the limit of civil authority coverage (2010 WL 4273086).
      • Won motion to dismiss plaintiff's complaint for failure to adequately allege the factual basis for plaintiff's claims under Iqbal (2010 WL 1688578) and subsequently negotiated a complete dismissal of all of plaintiff's claims without any payment made to the plaintiff.
      • Obtained summary judgment for commercial property insurer on the grounds that the policy's suit limitation provision barred plaintiff's claims.
      • Using Catalyst, worked with client’s preferred E-Discovery vendor to collect and review materials for production in connection with a putative class action alleging antitrust violations, fraud, and unfair trade practices.
      • Represented insurer in claim brought by a seller of Christian-based inspirational gift items, such as T-shirts and Bible covers, to recover business interruption losses and expenses in excess of $10 million and bad faith damages following a fire that damaged the insured's warehouse and inventory. Robinson & Cole prepared the insurer's motion for partial summary judgment on several significant issues to the litigation and in opposition to plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment. The firm also assisted local counsel in preparing the joint pretrial order and provided guidance regarding settlement negotiations and drafting the settlement agreement. The case settled shortly before trial with a settlement favorable to insurer.

      • Represented a cable communications company in an action alleging unfair trade practices, breach of contract, and other tort claims and successfully moved to strike the antitrust and class allegations in that case. A favorable settlement for the client was obtained.

    • Professional Associations

      Professional Associations

      Connecticut Bar Association

      American Bar Association
  • NEWS + PRESS
    • Publications

      Publications

      "Ballot Initiatives & Identifiable Minorities: A Textual Call to Congress," 28 Rutgers L.J. 677 (1997)

    • News

      R+C in the News

      • March 14, 2012

        Robinson & Cole Attorneys Successfully Move to Strike Class Action Count

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          Robinson & Cole Attorneys Successfully Move to Strike Class Action Count

          Attorneys Craig A. Raabe, Elizabeth R. Leong, Jamie M. Landry, and Laura Torchio and paralegal Lori Gizzi recently secured a significant victory for their client when the Connecticut Superior Court granted their motion to strike the class action count of a lawsuit seeking over $50 million in damages. The class action count alleged breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, and violation of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act relating to the sale of cable television advertising. In a relatively rare decision based solely on the pleadings, the Connecticut Superior Court granted the motion to strike, holding that the commonality, predominance, and superiority requirements for class certification could never be satisfied.