Partner

Jason P. Gosselin focuses on insurance and commercial litigation.  One of Jason's areas of particular concentration is the representation of life insurers in connection with the often unrecognized exposure created by the secondary market for life insurance, including viatical settlements and stranger originated life insurance.  He serves as national counsel for secondary market litigation to a Fortune 500 financial services company.  Jason has assisted his clients in successfully challenging more than $250 million in life insurance policies that were tainted by fraud or lacked an insurable interest at inception.  He has also assisted his clients in retaining tens of millions of dollars in premium on such policies.

Jason also represents insurers in a broad variety of other litigation matters, including coverage disputes, bad faith claims, sales practices litigation, ERISA, and class action claims.  In addition to his litigation practice, Jason counsels life insurers and annuity issuers with respect to potential exposure arising from unclaimed property audits and related market conduct examinations.

Jason has successfully represented businesses both small and large in traditional commercial litigation. These matters include claims involving breach of contract, commercial sales and leasing, civil racketeering, Lanham Act, unfair trade practices, and employment disputes, among others.  Jason has served as lead counsel in multiple jury trials and dozens of arbitrations, and  has argued cases before the Pennsylvania Superior Court and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

In addition to his insurance and commercial litigation work, for several years Jason has also represented clients in a variety of civil liberties matters.  He has prosecuted and defended civil actions involving free speech, religious liberties, and claims of excessive force. For example, Jason represented the Cradle of Liberty Council of the Boy Scouts of America in its long-running and highly publicized dispute with the City of Philadelphia over the council’s use of a city-owned building for its headquarters.  In the summer of 2010, Jason won a jury verdict in federal court in which the jury found that the City’s efforts to evict Cradle of Liberty violated the council’s constitutional rights.

Jason lives outside Philadelphia with his wife and four children.  He enjoys long distance running and coaching Little League baseball.

Representative Cases

Principal Life Insurance Co. v. Lawrence Rucker 2007 Insurance Trust, 735 F. Supp. 2d 130 (Del. 2010) (entering summary judgment in favor of life insurer and finding that multi-layer trust arrangement was designed to evade Delaware’s prohibition on wagering contracts)

Principal Life Insurance Co. v. Mosberg, No. 09-22341, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61054 (S.D.Fla. June 18, 2010) (entering summary judgment in favor of life insurer and finding that $14 million policy was void ab initio)

Doe v. Indian River School District, 685 F. Supp. 2d 254 (Del. 2010) (entering summary judgment in favor of school district and finding that school board’s practice of opening its public meetings with prayer or moment of silence did not constitute an establishment of religion in violation of First Amendment)

Jackson v. Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston, et al., No. 09-1872, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 3639 (3d Cir. 2010) (affirming dismissal of consolidated actions alleging multiple counts of civil racketeering and related claims against plaintiff’s former employer and ERISA plan administrator)

Regscan, Inc. v. Brewer, et al., No. 07-2082, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 17518 (3d Cir. 2008) (affirming summary judgment in favor of electronic publisher and its officers in civil racketeering claims brought by rival publisher)

Hall v. Valley Forge Life Insurance Co., et al., 841 So. 2d 851 (La. App. 2003) (affirming summary judgment in favor of life insurer in claim involving negligent underwriting)

Laucks v. Provident Companies, et al., No. 97-1507, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22857 (M.D. Pa. Oct. 29, 1999) (bench trial verdict in favor of disability insurer finding that anesthesiologist who discontinued anesthesia practice after completion of substance abuse treatment was not disabled)