ATTORNEYS

Gary Nelson

Contact Information

Gary Nelson

- Firm Managing Partner

Gary currently serves as the Managing Partner of the firm. He began his legal career with Heyl Royster in 1977 and became a partner with the firm in 1985. He became the firm's managing partner in 2010.

He concentrates his practice on liability insurance coverage cases for CGL, umbrella/excess, automobile, home, life, health and disability policies, as well as civil litigation in trial and ADR settings with a special focus on trucking and common carrier disputes, construction litigation, and architect/engineer professional liability claims.

He has represented more than 100 insurers and self-insureds in over 1,000 cases in his career.

He has litigated a wide range of coverage issues in both the state and federal courts, including the defense of insurance carriers in bad faith and vexatious refusal to pay cases as well as representing insurance agents in errors and omissions claims. He has also had the opportunity to represent several trucking companies and construction companies in catastrophic injury cases, utilizing accident reconstruction and animation techniques, defending against fatigue, distraction, and conspicuity issues, as well as the medical and biomechanical issues confronted in those types of catastrophic injury cases.

Gary is a frequent speaker on insurance issues to bar and industry groups, both in Illinois and nationally, as well as addressing motor carrier groups and counsel and design professionals on issues unique to those industries. He has authored a chapter on "Other Insurance" in The Law & Practice of Insurance Coverage Litigation published by West Group and has published a chapter on "The Intentional Act Exclusion" in the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education handbook on Commercial and Professional Liability Insurance.

Gary served in the U.S. Army in Korea from 1972-1974.

Significant Cases

  • Obtained summary judgment for a design engineer in construction injury claims in the construction of a nuclear power facility.
  • Successfully defended national trucking firm and driver in catastrophic injury claim when client driver struck the rear of a parked tractor-trailer unit by demonstrating through accident reconstruction testimony that the semi was parked in the travel portion of the interstate.
  • Obtained summary judgment for a design engineering firm in multiple wrongful death claims arising out of an accident during the repair of a bridge over the Illinois River.
  • Took over defense of a national insurer in the middle of a multi-million dollar bad faith claim and brought it to satisfactory resolution at mediation.
  • Intervened in the defense of a catastrophic truck accident for national trucking company and brought it to successful resolution at mediation with a quadriplegic plaintiff.
  • Successfully defended construction firm in litigation in Iowa over claims of improper design, construction, improper use of construction materials, for an addition to a regional medical center.
  • Successfully defended national insurer from claims that it was primarily liable for the damages following a multi-million dollar fire to a restaurant; successfully argued that another insurer's coverage was primary.
  • Successfully defended nationwide trucking firm in accident in which the defendant truck driver and the two plaintiff truck drivers were all killed in the same accident by utilization of accident reconstruction to demonstrate that the plaintiff's version of how the accident occurred could not have physically happened.
  • Successfully removed to federal court a wrongful death claim against an international resort chain for a claim brought in state court when a decedent was killed following a palm tree falling on him at resort in Caribbean. Also successfully argued that Dutch law should apply resulting in a significantly less value to the case.
  • Successfully defended in federal court a nationwide insurer for bad faith claim alleging a failure to defend a claim of invasion of privacy.

Publications

  • Co-author, "Intentional Act Exclusion (Supplement)," chapter in Commercial and Professional Liability Insurance, Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education Handbook (2010) - Download Article
  • "Other Insurance" chapter in multi-volume treatise Insurance Coverage Litigation published by the West Group
  • "Intentional Act Exclusions" chapter in Commercial and Professional Liability Insurance, Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (2008) - Download Article
  • Co-author, "How Much Room Under the Umbrella - An Examination of Ancillary Insurance Relationships," Illinois Defense Counsel Quarterly Monograph
  • "What Duties are Owed to an Excess Insurer by Sophisticated Self-Insured," ABA Tort & Insurance Law Journal (1993)
  • "Insurance Law Update," Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel (2005)
  • "Survey of Illinois Law: Insurance," Southern Illinois University Law Journal

Public Speaking

  • “Addressing Coverage Issues of Additional Insured and Insured Contracts”
    LIRB Central Regional Adjusters Conference 2006
  • “Ethical Dilemmas Presented to Insurers and Defense Counsel They Hire: They Look at Burning Limits, Defending Multiple Insureds, and Discovery”
    Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel 2005
  • “What It Does and What It Doesn’t Do: Liability Insurance for the Professional Engineer”
    Lorman Business Institute 2005
  • “Critical Issues for Senior Insurance Executives and In-House Counsel - Through the Looking Glass: Trends in Application and Interpretation of Additional Insured Endorsements”
    Liability Insurance Research Bureau 2004
  • “Emergency Response At Its Best - Handling that Midnight Call”
    Transportation Megaconference 2001
  • “Hiring Drivers - The Enemy Is Not Always The Outsider”
    Trucking Industry Defense Association Annual Seminar

Professional Recognition

  • Martindale-Hubbell AV Rated
  • Selected as a Leading Lawyer in Illinois. Only five percent of lawyers in the state are named as Leading Lawyers.
  • Named to the Illinois Super Lawyers list (2008-2013). The Super Lawyers selection process is based on peer recognition and professional achievement. Only five percent of the lawyers in each state earn this designation.
  • Illinois State Bar Association, Past Chair, Insurance Law Section Council
  • American Bar Association, Past Chair, Self-Insurers & Risk Managers Committee
  • American Bar Association, Past Chair, Insurance Law Coverage Committee
  • Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel, Past Chair, Insurance Coverage Committee
  • Abraham Lincoln American Inn of Court (Master) 

Professional Associations

  • Council on Litigation Management
  • Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel
  • Defense Research Institute
  • Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel
  • Trucking Industry Defense Association
  • American Bar Association
  • Illinois State Bar Association
  • Peoria County Bar Association

Court Admissions

  • State Courts of Illinois
  • United States District Court, Central District of Illinois (trial bar)
  • United States Courts of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
  • United States Supreme Court 

Education

  • Juris Doctor, University of Illinois, 1977
  • Bachelor of Arts-Political Science, University of Illinois, 1972 

Community Involvement

  • Chaired "Stars at Your Service" fundraiser for American Diabetes Association for three years
  • Board of Directors, Heart of Illinois Chapter of American Diabetes Association
  • Executive Committee, First Federated Church

Year Joined Firm

  • 1977

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