Scott has 25 years' experience helping business clients solve problems and manage significant exposures with commercial insurance.
Overview
Scott represents business policyholders by litigating insurance claims, facilitating coverage, advising on insurance program structure, placements and renewals, and assisting with insurance aspects of transactions and contracts. Scott's experience spans the full range of business insurance policies, including Directors & Officers (D&O); Errors & Omissions (E&O); Employment Practices (EPL); Fiduciary; Cyber; Property/Business Interruption; Product Recall and Contamination; Commercial General Liability (CGL); Crime; and, Transactional Risk Policies. While much of Scott's practice involves day-to-day insurance advice, clients also seek his insurance counsel when facing man-made and natural disasters, financial distress and bet-the-company litigation.
Scott serves public and private companies of all sizes, across many industries, but he has substantial experience representing financial institutions, financial services, health care technology, energy, food, manufacturing, education, construction and agribusiness clients. Scott also defends class actions and represents clients in governmental investigations and proceedings involving employee benefit plans and alleged violations of ERISA.
Experience
Policyholder Insurance Counseling & Advice
Ongoing insurance representation of corporate policyholders, concerning:
- Business insurance program structure, policy placement and renewal
- Drafting manuscript policies and endorsements to address unique exposures
- Day-to-day policy compliance, policyholder/insurer relationship management and coverage issues related to underlying lawsuits and first-party losses
- Insurance-related transactional support in M&A transactions, historic and new market tax credit deals, and generally concerning contracts and leases
- Financial distress, including receiverships and bankruptcies
Policyholder Insurance Recovery—Claims and Litigation
- Helped secure approximately $170,000,000 in insurance proceeds as insurance coverage counsel to the unsecured creditors committee in the bankruptcy of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
- Prosecuted and resolved a lawsuit against property insurers that denied coverage for claim by a refinery suffering in excess of $100 million in losses relating to a catastrophic flood.
- Prosecuted and resolved a lawsuit against property insurers that refused to pay policy limits to a public utility in respect of over $70 million in losses caused by a series of earthquakes and tsunamis.
- Resolved before litigation a multimillion dollar claim against a property insurer for business interruption losses arising from a mass shooting incident.
- Resolved a multimillion dollar claim under product contamination/recall policy concerning losses related to pathogen contamination of food products.
- Represented public energy company with respect to D&O insurance and indemnification issues occasioned by alleged multimillion dollar embezzlement by CEO and CFO leading to SEC and state securities commission investigations, criminal prosecutions, and multiple shareholder securities class actions and derivative actions.
- Represented a public technology company with respect to D&O liability insurance and indemnification issues occasioned by SEC investigation and derivative action based on CEO's alleged use of corporate assets for personal purposes.
- Resolved before litigation a claim against a professional liability insurer involving multimillion dollar claim arising from alleged error in NAV calculation pertaining to an ETF.
- Secured coverage under fiduciary liability insurance policy for multimillion dollar settlement of consolidated class and mass actions alleging improper modification/ termination of retiree welfare benefits in violation of ERISA.
- Served as coverage counsel to unsecured creditors' committees in multiple bankruptcy proceedings precipitated by bodily injury/emotional distress claims; hundreds of claimants and 50+ years of general liability insurance coverage involved in each proceeding.
News & Insights
News
Speaking Engagements
Panelist, "Are Two Policies Better Than One?," American College of Coverage & Extracontractual Counsel Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, May 2018
Panelist, "Crisis Management and Response," Heartland GRC Roundtable Series, Mission Hills, KS, April 2018
Presentation, "Untangling the Knot of Indemnity and Insurance in Construction Contracts," December 2016, Stinson LLP, Construction Litigation Seminar
Presentation, "Representations & Warranties Insurance," American College of Coverage & Extracontractual Counsel Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, May 2016
Panelist, "D&O Insurance and Indemnification," Women Corporate Directors Institute, Kansas City Chapter, May 2016
Presentation, "The Yates Memo: D&O Indemnification and Insurance Problems and Solutions", Stinson LLP, Directors' Institute and Proxy Season Workshop, November 2015
Presentation, "Representations & Warranties Insurance," Stinson LLP, seminar on "Hot Topics in Insurance Law," September 2015
Presentation, "Selected Insurance Issues Relevant in Commercial Lending," April 2015
Panelist, "Cyber Insurance: Perspectives from the Insurer, Broker, and Counsel," Stinson LLP, March 2015.
Presentation, "Cyber Insurance: From Nice to Necessity," Stinson Leonard Street LLP Business Law Update, February 2015.
Presentation, "Business Liability Insurance Basics: Scope and Recurring Issues," Stinson LLP, January 2015.
Publications
Scott is a founder of, and primary contributor to, Biz Ins. & Outs, a blog dedicated to providing practical advice and useful information concerning business insurance. See http://bizinsandouts.com/
"Mo’ Coverage Mo’ Problems: Allocation and Related Complications When Multiple Types of Liability Insurance Apply to a Single Lawsuit," American College of Coverage Counsel Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, May 2018
Recognitions
Recognitions
Scott is a fellow in the American College of Coverage Counsel
Scott is recognized for Insurance Law in The Best Lawyers in America® and Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers©
Listed in the 2020 edition of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business
Professional & Civic Activities
Professional & Civic Activities
Southwestern College, Chair of Board of Trustees
Historical Society of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Treasurer and Board Member
CLJ Foundation, past board member of non-profit providing life skills and job training to developmentally disabled adults
Lansing Educational Foundation, past Secretary and board member of non-profit providing supplemental educational funding to USD 469 in Lansing, Kansas
Practices & Industries
Admissions
- Missouri, 1993
- Kansas, 1994
- U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Education
Harvard Law School, J.D., 1993
Southwestern College, B.A.,1990