James Davis

James M. Davis is a partner in the firm’s Insurance Recovery Group. Jim is “extraordinarily hard working, fantastic in terms of client relations and very much attuned to the cutting-edge issues,” is “an extremely talented writer, whose briefs are very well written”, has “good strategic litigation skills” and “courtroom presence”, and “has an unbelievable knowledge base of coverage law and can easily identify the esoteric points,” reports Chambers USA based upon interviews over several years with clients and lawyers in the insurance coverage community.

His national litigation practice focuses on representing policyholders in insurance coverage disputes involving product liability, product recall, product contamination, first party property and business interruption losses, additional insured and vendor endorsements, historic coverage for environmental and asbestos claims, cyber liability, director’s & officer’s liability, professional liability, employment practices liability, commercial crime and fidelity bonds, workers’ compensation liability, domestic and UK insolvencies, and UK solvent schemes.

Jim also has served extensively as trial counsel in commercial disputes involving breach of contract, indemnity, construction, sales practices, environmental compliance, shareholder and partnership, RICO, and unfair competition. His representations have encompassed clients ranging in size from Fortune 50 corporations to family-owned businesses.

He is familiar with a wide spectrum of manufacturing and service industry sectors, including retail, pharmaceutical, energy, financial institutions, food manufacturing, construction, real estate and consulting.

As a preeminent insurance coverage lawyer, Jim was elected to membership in the American College of Coverage and Extracontractual Counsel (ACCEC) in 2014. Jim regularly publishes and speaks on insurance recovery topics.

He is the co-editor of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee’s website, he serves on the Committee’s long range planning committee and he previously chaired the Committee’s Annual CLE Conference for 2008 and 2009, the Emerging Issues Subcommittee (second term), and the Programming Subcommittee.

Education :

• Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, 1995, J.D., Highest Honors; Order of the Coif
• University of Washington, 1991, B.A.

Professional Admissions & Qualifications :

• Illinois
• Colorado
• Washington

Court Admissions :

• U.S. District Court – District of Colorado
• U.S. District Court – Northern District of Illinois
• State Supreme Court – Colorado
• State Supreme Court – Washington
• State Supreme Court – Illinois

Professional Affiliations :

• Law360 Insurance Editorial Advisory Board – 2014
• American Bar Association, Section of Litigation, Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee (ICLC)
  • Member of Publication Advisory Board and previously Co-Editor of Committee Website (multiple terms)
  • Previously Co-Chair of Programming, Emerging Issue (two terms – outstanding subcommittee chair award), and Long Range Planning Subcommittees

EXPERIENCE :

• Southland Oil Co. v. Miss. Ins. Guaranty Assoc. et al., 2006 WL 1519958 (5th Cir. May 30, 2006). Court affirmed policyholder’s right to select forum in light of service-of-suit clauses in policies.
• Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Lumbermens Mut. Cas. Co., 525 F.Supp.2d 993 (N.D.Ill. 2007) (obtaining dismissal of policyholder client from equitable contribution dispute between two insurers)
• Sachs v. Reef Aquaria Design Inc., 2007 WL 2973841 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 5, 2007) (denying insurer’s motion to intervene in underlying lawsuit to propound special jury interrogatories on coverage issues)
• Sears Holdings Corp. v. ACE Amer. Ins. Co., Case No. 1:06-cv-1263 (S.D. Miss. Oct. 16, 2007) (remanding policyholder’s Hurricane Katrina insurance coverage lawsuit to its chosen Mississippi state court forum from Mississippi federal court)
• Kmart Corp. v. XL Insurance America, Inc., 2010 WL 367676 (Cal. App. 2d Dist. Feb. 2010) (granting partial summary judgment to policyholder and holding that additional insured status established as a matter of law)