Article ID: e2629b6ad8a124ddf629fc3fd92e65058ba5351b3b23d2100546c151320ffe32
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Lawyer’s E&O insurer owes no defense in trade secret theft case - Business Insurance Skip to content Register for free Search Search Log In Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Lawyer’s E&O insurer owes no defense in trade secret theft case by Richard Sine E&O Mar 26, 2026 A professional liability insurer is not obliged to defend an attorney accused of helping his wife steal trade secrets from her employer, a Georgia sperm bank, a federal judge ruled. In ALPS Property & Casualty Insurance Co. v. Jeremy Cohen , U.S. District Judge J. Randal Hall of the Southern District of Georgia ruled Wednesday that coverage did not apply because the lawyer defendant’s alleged conduct had nothing to do with the practice of law. Mr. Cohen provided legal services for Xytex Cryo International, a sperm bank based in Augusta. His wife, Lorin Cohen, was a senior executive at the company. According to Xytex, Ms. Cohen forwarded company emails and confidential documents to her husband’s email address more than 20 times between 2022 and 2024. Xytex alleged that Mr. Cohen knowingly received the materials, helped recruit an IT employee to access additional protected files, and aided his wife in violating her employment contract’s restrictive covenants. Xytex claimed the Cohens wanted to use the materials for “a competitive business enterprise,” according to the ruling. Mr. Cohen argued that because Xytex identified him as having provided legal services for the company, the claims against him arose from his professional work and should be covered by Missoula, Montana-based ALPS. He also claimed that employees had come to him as a lawyer to report that Xytex’s CEO was committing fraud, framing the document transfers as part of a legitimate internal investigation. The judge rejected both arguments. The claims against Mr. Cohen — receiving stolen documents, conspiring with his wife, recruiting an IT employee to access protected files — “do not involve specialized skill or training as required by a lawyer’s work performing professional services,” the judge wrote. Mr. Cohen had not provided evidence of an internal investigation and given shifting explanations for why the documents had been sent to him, the judge said. “It cannot be said that a secret internal investigation, of which the corporate client is seemingly unaware, falls under the scope of professional services performed for the client,” the judge added. ALPS was granted summary judgment. 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