Hans Kenneth works primarily with insurance and professional liability claims. In addition, he renders advice on the insurance regulatory framework and the intermediary contracts. He has considerable experience with marine insurance and transportation disputes.
He is internationally renowned for his complete expertise with the insurance law and its business, and assists his clients with strategic advice within commercial, sales/underwriting, claims and litigation. He has a particular interest for and experience with complex international claims and contemporary insurance products.
Hans Kenneth assists also the legal academic community with lectures, student guidance and censoring. He has published academic articles which have been referred to by the Norwegian Supreme Court in their judgments.
He has been ranked as “leading individual” in Insurance law by Legal 500 for many years, and also been topranked in the Norwegian newspaper Finansavisen’s yearly lawyer rankings within the same category
Awards, Work experience, Positions and Education
- Number 1 , Advokatundersøkelsen, Kapital Jus, Insurance law, 2026
- Number 2, Advokatundersøkelsen, Kapital Jus, Insurance law, 2025
- Partner, Wiersholm, 2024
- Senior claims handler, Gjensidige Forsikring ASA, 2022
- Partner, Wiersholm, 2015
- Managing Associate, Wiersholm, 2010
- Senior associate, Wiersholm, 2004
- Associate, Lindh Stabell Horten, 2001
- Chairman of Forum for Insurance Law , 2024 – 2026
- Lecturer Insurance law (elective subject) – UiO, 2024 – 2026
- Head of the Norwegian Bar Association Insurance Committee, 2018 – 2021
- Master of Law, University of Oslo, 2001
Selected projects
Assistance in the form of advisory services and litigation for Gjensidige Forsikring ASA in connection with Norway’s largest lawyer scandal, in which attorney Ousdal defrauded companies and private individuals of NOK 1 billion through a loan fraud scheme disguised as loan brokerage. More than 100 lenders have brought claims against Ousdal and the professional indemnity insurer of his law firm, Gjensidige. It is one of the most widely covered business cases in the media in 2024 to 2026.
Sundt Building in Bergen is an architectural masterpiece from the 1930s and an important part of central Bergen. The building is owned by DNB Næringseiendom. After damage was discovered in the concrete slabs in 2020, DNB submitted claims under its insurance policies, but the claims were denied. Following a series of complaints, Wiersholm, through Hans Kenneth Viga-Gerhardsen, was engaged in spring 2024. Proceedings were issued, and DNB succeeded on all points in January 2026. The judgment has been appealed. The case raises a number of issues of principle concerning insurance law, including the question of under which policy period the insurance event belongs, the concept of damage in an insurance context, and various exclusions.
Following the heaviest snowfall in Southern Norway in many decades in January 2024, a large number of commercial greenhouses collapsed. Claims totaling more than NOK 600 million were submitted, all of which were rejected by Gjensidige Forsikring ASA. Wiersholm assisted Gjensidige in defending against and negotiating the claims both out of court and in the courts, in a complex set of matters with significant importance for the agricultural market in Norway.
Hans Kenneth Viga-Gerhardsen has advised insurers, board members, and chief executive officers in more than 150 matters over the past 15 years. He is an expert both in directors’ and officers’ liability, the insurance coverages available, and the handling of such disputes before complaints boards and the courts. He is a frequent lecturer and has published several articles on the subject, in addition to sharing regular insights on LinkedIn.
Hans Kenneth has, for more than 25 years, worked both for and against insurance companies and other insurance intermediaries, and knows the industry well. He is an expert in all aspects of insurance law, including regulatory matters and marine insurance. He is recognized as one of Norway’s leading advisers in the insurance field and provides strategic advice based on his experience. He has written several articles on insurance law and takes the lead in court on the cases that raise issues of principle. He is a frequent lecturer and regularly posts practical tips on LinkedIn on how insurance law works in practice. He is one of the few insurance lawyers in Norway who undertakes assignments both for policyholders and for insurers.
Hans Kenneth Viga-Gerhardsen is engaged from time to time to provide opinions in relation to reinsurance disputes for the international market. He is also engaged in arbitrations relating to such disputes.
Sale of insurance through associations largely takes place via intermediaries, such as insurance brokers and insurance agents. When one of these actors wishes to transfer its portfolio, disputes often arise regarding ownership and remuneration. Hans Kenneth Viga-Gerhardsen has assisted insurance brokers, insurance agents, and insurance undertakings in at least one major dispute each year for the past 15 years. He is therefore the most experienced lawyer in the Norwegian market in this field, which requires an understanding of insurance law, insurance regulatory law, EEA law, contract law, and the insurance market as it stands at any given time.
After receiving notice of a preliminary decision in June 2020 from the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (Finanstilsynet), the Norwegian insurance undertaking INSR chose to voluntarily wind down its insurance operations. Wiersholm assisted throughout the entire process, which was the largest of its kind. Hans Kenneth Viga-Gerhardsen was responsible for the negotiations relating to the nearly 100 agency agreements the undertaking had entered into. To a large extent, each negotiation was individual. INSR was ultimately wound up as planned, and its license could be returned to Finanstilsynet.
Wiersholm assisted DHL after it was sued for having delivered a Munch painting owned by Nicolai Tangen to him, despite another finance person having purchased the same litograph via an antique store in the meantime. The case was covered regularly in the Saturday supplement of Dagens Næringsliv for more than a year before the main hearing, and involved a deep dive into the Norwegian art market. The legal disputes concerned in particular what is required to acquire artworks in “good faith”, as well as liability for a warehouse and the interplay with transport law and the NSAB 2000. Wiersholm also played a significant role in the investigation into how the litograph could disappear from the first buyer and later be sold to a new buyer.
In 2020, earth masses gave way in a large residential area in Gjerdrum, causing a number of buildings to be total losses and others to become uninhabitable. Lives were also lost. Hans Kenneth Viga-Gerhardsen assisted a group of 30 homeowners in clarifying their insurance rights and maintaining dialogue with their insurance company. After an extended period of discussions, the matters were resolved satisfactorily for all of them, ensuring that their rights were safeguarded.
Viga-Gerhardsen has assisted several helicopter service companies the last 10 years following vital accidents which has has been subject to investigations by the State Accident Commission.