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Thomas
A. Smith
tsmith@mcdonaldmccabe.com
T (312) 845-5195
F (312) 845-5825
PRACTICE
AREAS:
Commercial Litigation
Insurance Coverage
Property Subrogation
BIOGRAPHY:
Thomas
Smith focuses his practice on insurance coverage, property subrogation,
and environmental matters. He has litigated third-party coverage disputes
in Illinois, California, and other
states, including multiple-insurer cases in which insurers were faced
with substantial exposure for defense and indemnification for alleged
environmental property damage. He has counseled numerous insurance
carriers with respect to defense and indemnity duties under liability
policies. His subrogation experience includes matters arising from roof
collapses, structural failures, industrial explosions, restaurant and
industrial fires, and electrical casualties. The successful resolution of
these matters has required the development and proof of defective design,
negligent construction/installation, and other liability theories as well
as the proof of business interruption, additional expense, and property
restoration/replacement damages.
Mr. Smith has
also litigated environmental cost recovery and injunctive relief cases
under CERCLA and RCRA,
as well as environmental enforcement matters under federal, state, and
local law, including the successful defense of a
California municipality in a suit seeking
extensive injunctive relief and the recovery of cleanup costs for
environmental property damage. He has also litigated commercial lease
matters and real estate matters.
Mr. Smith has
tried cases before court-appointed referees and in alternative dispute
resolution fora. These matters include the
favorable resolution of numerous third-party insurance coverage issues
under an agreed order of reference and an arbitration matter involving
the allocation of $10 million of environmental liabilities between a
Chicago corporation and its spun-off
automotive division. Mr. Smith has deposed numerous percipient witnesses
as well as expert witnesses in the various engineering disciplines,
construction, sewer design and maintenance, accounting, economic loss,
and contaminant transport through environmental media. He has also argued
numerous summary judgment motions, including motions concerning defense
and indemnification obligations under liability insurance policies.
EDUCATION:
United States Naval Academy, B.S., 1985;
Loyola University Chicago School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 1994;
Editor-in-Chief, Loyola University Chicago Law Journal, 1993-94.
BAR
ADMISSIONS:
Illinois
Bar, 1994; U.S. District
Court, Northern District of Illinois, 1994; California Bar, 2000; U.S. District
Court, Eastern District of California, 2000.
MEMBERSHIPS:
Chicago Bar
Association; Illinois State Bar Association; State Bar of California
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