Scott S. Thomas

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.

Recovered over $5 Million in Defense Costs for a Large Residential Homebuilder Named in Two High-Exposure Construction Defect Lawsuits

Recovered over $5 Million in defense costs for our client, a large residential homebuilder, who was named as a defendant in two high-exposure construction defect lawsuits. Because the amount recovered included the attorney’s fees that our client paid our firm to secure funding from the insurance carriers, our client did not come out of pocket to defend itself against the construction defect action or hire Payne & Fears LLP to pursue insurance coverage.