Scott S. Thomas

Payne & Fears Represents Builder in Largest Recovery in Firm History

Payne & Fears represented a publicly-traded home builder in a complex, high-stakes insurance coverage dispute that was resolved in the builder’s favor. Although the terms of the settlement are confidential, the homebuilder was “thrilled” with the settlement. And the Payne & Fears partner that handled the matter calls the settlement a “once in a lifetime” victory.

The odyssey that led to this recovery began in 2011, when the builder sued two of its liability insurers for denying several claims that, together, totaled more than $50,000,000. Had the case gone to trial, the...

Recovered Almost $1,000,000 in Insurance Proceeds for a Fortune 500 Homebuilder

Irvine office partner Scott S. Thomas and Las Vegas partner Sarah J. Odia recently recovered almost $1,000,000 in insurance proceeds for a Fortune 500 homebuilder. Several liability insurers that insured the homebuilder as an additional-insured under policies issued to the homebuilder’s subcontractors refused to defend the homebuilder in two multi-plaintiff construction defect actions in Clark County, Nevada. One of the insurers filed a motion to dismiss the homebuilder’s insurance recovery complaints, citing the “ongoing operations” language in its additional insured...

Payne & Fears Recovers 100% of Costs in High-Exposure Construction Defect Lawsuit

Irvine office partner Scott S. Thomas, and associate Sarah J. Odia of the Las Vegas office, recovered more than $2 million dollars from a group of additional-insured carriers for a major home builder in reimbursement of costs incurred to defend a high-exposure construction defect lawsuit, plus 100% of Payne & Fears LLP's costs incurred pursuing the litigation. By utilizing their connections within the insurance industry, and by employing creative legal strategies - including early case evaluation and mediation - Payne & Fears LLP was able to recover the entire amount uncommonly...

$13 Million Recovered From Direct and Additional-Insured Carriers for a Major Homebuilder in Reimbursement of Costs Incurred to Defend and Settle a High-Exposure Construction Defect Lawsuit

Recovered more than $13 Million from a group of direct and additional-insured carriers for a major homebuilder in reimbursement of costs incurred to defend and settle a high-exposure construction defect lawsuit and, in the process, made new law regarding what constitutes “property damage” caused by an “occurrence” under a CGL policy, limiting the “fair debatability” doctrine as a bad faith defense, and confirming the admissibility of an insurer’s handling of other claims as evidence of its bad faith.