Julie was pleased to present on “AI and the Legal Industry: Recent Developments and Ethical Implications” at the Association of Fraternal Benefit Counsel’s annual conference in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho in July 2026.
Joe was a panel speaker at the Defense Research Institute’s Life, Health, Disability, and ERISA Committee’s annual 3-day seminar, which was held in Atlanta, Georgia in April 2026. He presented on Annuities: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know but Were Afraid to Ask.
Julie was honored to chair the Defense Research Institute’s Life, Health, Disability, and ERISA Committee’s annual 3-day seminar, which was held in Atlanta, Georgia in April 2026.
Julie spoke at the Association of Fraternal Benefit Counsel’s annual conference in Savannah, Georgia on Ethical Implications of AI for Attorneys in June 2025.
Julie was honored to speak at and co-chair the Defense Research Institute’s Life, Health, Disability, and ERISA Committee’s annual conference, held in Denver, Colorado in April 2025. She presented on Artificial Intelligence.
CMN Special Member Kaitlyn Luther was one of the panelists in a presentation about recent cases involving the intersection of life insurance and murder, mayhem, and deceit. The presentation was part of the 2025 TIPS 49th Annual Midwinter Symposium on Employee Benefits, ERISA, Life, Health & Disability Insurance, and Insurance Regulation held in late February 2025.
Kaitlyn was joined by co-panelists Samir Aguirre of Symetra Life Insurance Company and Brent Behm of Kantor & Kantor, LLP. The panel was moderated by Joe Jeffery of CMN.
CMN Member Joe Jeffery served as a panelist in a presentation entitled Ethics in 30(b)(6) Depositions, presented to a joint session of the ABA TIPS 49th Annual Midwinter Symposium on Employee Benefits, ERISA, Life, Health & Disability Insurance, and Insurance Regulation and the ABA TIPS Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee held in La Jolla, California in late February 2025.
Joe was joined by co-panelist Megan E. Schneider of Transamerica Life Insurance Company and moderator Brooks R. Magratten of Pierce Atwood LLP.
Chittenden, Murday & Novotny LLC is pleased to announce that it has elevated Kaitlyn Luther and Ryan Voss to partnership.
Kaitlyn and Ryan handle complex commercial litigation matters in the Midwest and in federal courts throughout the country, focusing on life, accident and disability insurance, ERISA-related litigation, employment matters, commercial real estate, and defending catastrophic tort claims.
Kaitlyn and Ryan continue our proud tradition of elevating our “home-grown” talent, and they are an integral part of what makes CMN a continued success.
In several years of unprecedented challenges and changes, CMN has continued to provide excellent representation to its clients and get the results that make us a “Go To” law firm for the insurance and financial services industry.
Late 2021 saw two big wins for CMN. A successful trial in 2019 resulted in a verdict in favor of our life insurance client on a complex STOLI and rescission case. Not only did we secure a multi-million dollar fraud judgment against the rogue agent involved, we also obtained a verdict that allowed our client to retain the premiums it earned as an equitable remedy for the effort it took to unravel the STOLI scheme at issue. CMN also represented our client in the appeal, and in late 2021, the Second Circuit affirmed the trial court’s judgment in all respects.
Also in late 2021, CMN secured summary judgment in favor of our client in a complex antitrust case against multiple life insurers brought by investors in a hedge fund that promised lucrative returns on non-recourse premium financing and STOLI investing. The judgment in favor of our client on all claims against it followed years of intense motion practice and discovery and was a complete vindication for our client, which maintained from the start that the claims against it were untenable.
And CMN continues to bring wins for its clients in 2022. CMN recently obtained judgment for its client in an ERISA case where beneficiaries sought accidental death benefits after a participant died due to his use of illicit cocaine and fentanyl. The court agreed that the participant’s death was not “accidental” because a substantial risk of overdose and death accompanies the use of illicit narcotics, meaning any expectation the participant had of surviving his use of those drugs—separately or in combined form—was objectively unreasonable. Furthermore, even if the participant’s death had been an accident, the plan’s exclusion for losses caused by the voluntary use of one or more illicit narcotics meant the participant’s death was not covered.
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