Scott Stirling serves as lead litigator in complex cases representing defendants and insurers in both trial and appellate courts throughout the nation. He defends and monitors high-exposure and difficult lawsuits, especially those involving complex and catastrophic injuries or damages, wrongful death, product liability, and class action allegations in areas including aviation and transportation, product design and manufacturing, construction accidents, premises liability, governmental liability, multinational claims, and other tort, contract, and statutory claims. Excess insurers utilize Scott to monitor trials and pre-trial proceedings in high-stakes cases to continuously evaluate exposure, communicate with primary insurers and defense counsel, associate in as defense counsel, participate in mediations, and assume settlement negotiations as appropriate.

Scott is also an experienced insurance lawyer. Scott litigates insurance coverage, bad faith, insurance fraud and misrepresentation, and policy voidance/rescission cases for both domestic insurers and insurance syndicates within the Lloyd’s of London insurance market. Scott’s comprehensive understanding of the London insurance market and claims apparatuses of Lloyd’s syndicates enables him to efficiently advocate for Underwriters and their insureds in courts throughout the United States. Outside of litigation, he serves as coverage counsel for insurers, providing insurers coverage opinions on claims under both first-party and third-party policies. Insurers frequently retain him to advise on claim investigations and conduct examinations under oath of insureds, especially as to valuable article, fire, and trucking losses involving potential insurance fraud and Special Investigation Unit investigations. He also defends insurance agents, brokers, coverholders, and wholesale brokers in professional liability and other insurance suits.

In addition to a robust local practice in Chicago and throughout Illinois, Scott is also licensed and routinely litigates in Arkansas state and federal courts, and often secures temporary Pro hac vice admission to argue and appear in state and federal courts nationwide to aggressively protect and pursue his clients’ positions.

Scott continues to accumulate litigation and economic victories for his clients in trial courts, appellate courts, and outside of litigation. He argued and briefed appeals in the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Circuits, as well as various state appellate courts.

A sampling of successes for his clients include:

• In a case filed in Connecticut that sought recovery for the death of 29 people in a workplace fire that occurred in the Philippines, Scott obtained dismissal in the trial court on forum non conveniens grounds for defendant officers and U.S.-based affiliated company, and then argued and won affirmance in the Appellate Court of Connecticut. DeCicco v. Dynata, LLC, 225 Conn. App. 725, 317 A.3d 223 (2024).
• Won dismissal of two separate class action cases against condominium property management companies alleging claims pursuant to the Illinois Condo Act and Illinois Consumer Fraud Act that the companies over-charged condo sellers for copies of disclosure documents, and secured victory in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Friedman v. Lieberman Management Services, 2016 CH 15920 (Circuit Court of Cook County, January 24, 2024); Horist v. Sudler & Co., 941 F.3d 274 (7th Cir. 2019).
• Following a claim investigation where Scott conducted an examination under oath shortly after a fire loss and the insurer subsequently rescinded the policy for material misrepresentation in the insurance application, Scott litigated the ensuing declaratory judgment action and obtained summary judgment for the insurer just prior to the scheduled trial. Hiscox Dedicated Corp. Member Ltd. v. Taylor, No. 6:18-CV-6100, 2023 WL 5660147, at *1 (W.D. Ark. Aug. 31, 2023). In the same case, Scott also obtained dismissal of the insured’s third-party claim against the wholesale broker. Hiscox Dedicated Corp. Member Ltd. v. Taylor, No. 6:18-CV-06100, 2020 WL 1933639, at *1 (W.D. Ark. Apr. 21, 2020).
• Briefed and argued a case in the Seventh Circuit where the court affirmed a dismissal with prejudice on a motion to dismiss for an insurance brokerage, by securing a novel ruling that under Illinois common law, an insurance broker has no duty to report the claims of its clients. Landmark Am. Ins. Co. v. Deerfield Constr., Inc., 933 F.3d 806, 815 (7th Cir. 2019).
• Won summary judgment for the defense in a catastrophic injury case asserting premises liability and construction negligence in the Circuit Court of Cook County. The court agreed with the briefs Scott drafted arguing that the defendant owed no legal duty to the plaintiff based on the evidence developed in depositions. Venegas v. Iron Mountain Inc., 2015 L 1659 (Cir. Ct. Cook County, Ill., Oct. 22, 2018).