Jay W Brown

Practice Areas

Jay W. Brown is a widely-respected trial lawyer in both the commercial and insurance realms. Jay is a trusted counselor, a valued advisor, and when necessary, a happy warrior. Reflecting his success in the courtroom, Jay obtained two board certifications from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization (Civil Trial Law and Personal Injury Trial Law), was inducted by fellow renowned trial lawyers into the American Board of Trial Advocates, selected for the American College of Coverage and Extracontractual Counsel and the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance, and named multiple years to the Texas Super Lawyers and the Best Lawyers in America.

Areas of Practice:

Commercial Litigation

Insurance Coverage and Litigation

Energy Litigation

Career

Jay charts the resolution paths on multi-case dockets where efficiency predominates, and also spearheads complex, high-profile litigation in which initiative and proactivity provide mastery over dangerous exposures. He has achieved an exemplary record of jury verdicts and negotiated solutions on lawsuits involving wide-spread catastrophes, complex contracts, fraud, insurance bad faith, deceptive trade practices, civil rights and major accidents.

Jay is highly regarded in the insurance industry and has skillfully navigated numerous commercial property insurers and adjusters through catastrophic claims involving manufacturing facilities, office buildings, retail complexes and refineries, including through the murky waters of first party bad faith disputes.

In the commercial litigation world, Jay is a “go to” lawyer for complex, high exposure business and technical disputes involving high stakes. He has litigated supply and output contracts, take or pay, and refinery related disputes, and defended a wide spectrum of lawsuits stemming from traumatic oil field and petrochemical refinery accidents, derrick collapses, rotating equipment failures, welding/cutting, confined space events, fires, explosions, oilfield indemnity, and workplace shootings.

His extensive experience allows him to evaluate cases “early on” including realistically identifying actual risk, based not on hyperbolic allegations but on concrete evidence and the likely perceptions of a jury.

Professional Memberships

American Board of Trial Advocates

American College of Coverage and Extracontractural Counsel Fellow

Claims and Litigation Management Alliance

State Bar of Texas, Litigation Section

Houston Bar Association, Litigation Section

Texas Association of Defense Counsel

Texas Bar Foundation, Life Fellow

Work Highlights

Tried numerous property damage, breach of contract, bad faith, fraud, and personal injury cases to verdict.

Obtained the second “reverse bad faith” verdict in Texas. Plaintiff suing for bad faith received zero and had $200,000 judgement entered against her in favor of insurer. George Flynn and Lydia Lum, Jury Orders Damages Paid to Defendant, Houston Chronicle, March 11, 1995, at A29. Richard Connelly, Second Plaintiff Stung by Reverse Bad Faith, Texas Lawyer, March 13, 1995, at 4.

Achieved hundreds of summary judgments and favorable resolutions in coverage/bad faith suits, commercial property claims arising from catastrophic losses, E & S claims, and liability insurance disputes.

Authored of over 100 coverage opinions involving different policy types: Commercial Property, Builder’s Risk, Inland Marine, Data Breach and Cyber Liability, Homeowner’s, CGL, PL, D&O, and EPL (sexual assault / harassment, ADA, discrimination).

Publications

Contributing Author: Anatomy of a Lawsuit, The In-House Counsel’s Essential Toolkit, Volume VI, American Bar Association

Co-author, Assisting Your Company in Times of Crisis, The Advocate, State Bar of Texas Litigation

New Texas Insurance Laws: Coming to a State Near You, Annual CLM Conference

Things to Know: Texas’ New “Hailstorm” Statute, Client Newsletter

What’s Left of Bad Faith?, Texas Insurance Law Symposium, South Texas College of Law

Are You Looking for a Change?, Texas Lawyers Roundtable

A Calculated Move: A Legal Perspective on Post-Catastrophic Business-Interruption Losses, Claims: Covering The Business of Loss

7 Wildfire Claims Q&A, Claims: Covering The Business of Loss

Does it Center on Senter? Federal Judge Finds Ambiguity in Mississippi’s Homeowner’s Policies, Claims: Covering The Business of Loss

Trial, Tactics & Technology: Where Business, Litigation and Litigation Support Intersect, 18th Annual General Counsel Forum, ALM, New York

Now You’ve Got the Data: What’s Next? Legal Tech, West Coast, ALM, Los Angeles

Business Income Losses and Extra Expense Coverage, South Texas College of Law

Business Interruption and Extra Expense Coverages: Strategic Considerations in Catastrophic Losses, South Texas College of Law

FRCP: E-Discovery and the December 2006 Changes, CLE Presentation

A Day in the life of an E-Discovery Case, T3 – Trial, Tactics & Technology, ALM New York

Trial Tactics and Technology, 4th Annual General Counsel Conference West, American Lawyer Media, Marina del Ray, CA

The Impact of Information Management From Dispute Emergence to Resolution, T3 – Trial, Tactics & Technology, ALM New York

Business Interruption and Extra Expense Coverages: Strategic Considerations for Catastrophic Losses, South Texas College of Law

Insurance Issues: The Perfect Storm, CLE Presentation

Business Interruption: Strategic Considerations for Losses, Texas Insurance Law Symposium

Independent Counsel: The Insurer’s Responsibility to its Insured, Insurance Law for Attorneys Representing Insurers, University of Houston

Independent Counsel: The Insurer’s Responsibilities to Its Insured, Insurance Law for Attorneys Representing Insurers, University of Houston

Independent Counsel: When It’s Needed; When It Isn’t, Advanced Insurance Law Seminar, 2002, University of Houston

Independent Counsel: The Insurer’s Responsibilities to Its Insured, Insurance Law for Attorneys Representing Insurers, University of Houston

Independent Counsel: The Insurer’s Responsibility to its Insureds; Insurance Law for Agents, Adjusters and Attorneys Who Represent Insurers, University of Houston

Education

Awards