Profile

Ashley is a seasoned litigator who represents professional liability, errors and omissions, and cyber insurers in complex coverage disputes pending in state and federal courts across the country. Ashley also serves as defense counsel for lawyers and accountants in pending professional liability lawsuits, threatened claims, and disciplinary proceedings. Ashley served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Maine between 2018 and 2022, representing the interests of the federal government in a wide variety of civil lawsuits and affirmative enforcement proceedings. 

Experience

Representative Matters

  • Prevailed on a motion for partial summary judgment on behalf of a federal employer relating to threshold exhaustion issue in Title VII employment discrimination case.
  • Secured dismissal of an employment discrimination action brought under the Family Medical Leave Act on behalf of a federal agency.
  • Prevailed on a motion to dismiss a medical malpractice action against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
  • Obtained Fourth Circuit affirmance of favorable district court ruling that all claims against insured engineering firm arising from the collapse of two nearly identical bridges constituted “related claims” under architects and engineers professional liability policy and were subject to a single per claim limit of liability. Stewart Engineering v. Continental Cas. Co., 2018 WL 5832805, No. 18-1386 (4th Cir. Nov. 7, 2018).
  • Obtained judgment on the pleadings confirming that a fee dispute against an insured attorney does not seek covered “damages” within the meaning of a lawyers professional liability policy. Cont’l Cas. Co. v. Parnoff, 2018 WL 4356746 (D. Conn. Sept. 12, 2018).    
  • Served on team that won a June 2016 jury trial relating to rescission of an accountants’ professional policy. Cont’l Cas. Co. v. Marshall Granger & Co., 921 F. Supp. 2d 111 (S.D.N.Y. 2013), 6 F. Supp. 3d 380 (S.D.N.Y. 2014). The Second Circuit affirmed the judgment for the insurer. Cont’l Cas. Co. v. Marshall Granger & Co., No. 16-2384, 2017 WL 2416902 (2d Cir. June 5, 2017).
  • Obtained Fourth Circuit affirmance of district court decision determining that a lawsuit against the insured business entity related back to an earlier lawsuit filed prior to the inception of the insurer’s policy period. C. & A.N. Miller Development Co. v. Cont’l Cas. Co., 814 F.3d 171 (4th Cir. 2016).

Professional Experience

  • Assistant United States Attorney, United States Attorney’s Office, District of Maine (2018-2022)
  • Judicial Intern, the Honorable Henry H. Kennedy, Jr., U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (2010-2011)
  • Summer Law Intern, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch (2010)

Affiliations

  • Board of Directors, Disability Rights of Maine (2022-Present)

Recognitions

  • Named one of DC’s “Rising Stars” for Professional Liability: Defense by Super Lawyers magazine (2016-2018)

Practice Areas

Credentials

Education

J.D., with highest honors, The George Washington University Law School; Order of the Coif; Anne Wells Branscomb Award (for graduating first in the class of evening law students)

B.A., with highest distinction, Purdue University; Phi Beta Kappa

Law Journals

Managing Editor, The George Washington Law Review

Clerkships

  • Law Clerk for the Honorable Deborah K. Chasanow, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland (2012-2013)

Bar and Court Memberships

  • District of Columbia Bar
  • Maine Bar
  • Virginia Bar
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • U.S. District Courts for the District of Maine, District of Maryland, and Eastern District of Michigan

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