James Sanders

Full Profile

Jamie Sanders is the Managing Partner of Clyde & Co’s Chicago office. He represents insurers in complex, high-stakes insurance coverage disputes. He has litigated and provided coverage advice to clients for claims across a variety of lines, including architects and engineers, environmental clean-up, product recall, commercial general liability, and professional liability. Jamie has acted as trial and appellate counsel in both insurance and non-insurance matters.

Jamie is ranked by Chambers & Partners, which described him as “a rising star in the coverage litigation and counseling world.” Prior to joining Clyde & Co in 2017, he was a partner at his previous firm.

Admissions

• Illinois
• US Courts of Appeals for the Seventh and Eighth Circuits
• US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
• US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
• US District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin

Education

• J.D., cum laude, University of Georgia, 2006. Notes Editor, Georgia Law Review.
• B.A., magna cum laude, University of Georgia, 2003

Experience

• John Crane Inc. v. Allianz Underwriters Ins. Co., 2020 IL App (1st) 180223. Trial counsel for insurers in multi-month trial where insured sought coverage for hundreds of millions of dollars in underlying asbestos bodily injury liabilities.

• Obtained summary judgment for insurer in construction liability coverage lawsuit.

• Secured dismissal of multiple first-party COVID-19 insurance coverage lawsuits.

• Represented insurers in multiple high-exposure product recall and architects & engineers insurance claims.

• Represented insurer in high-profile environmental contamination lawsuit in Madison, Wisconsin, where the insured sought defense and indemnity coverage for two class action lawsuits and a DNR-mandated remediation.

• Represented insurers in multiple bad faith actions involving multi-million dollar "excess verdicts" in underlying tort cases.

• Secured a finding of no coverage in favor of insurer in litigation where plaintiffs sought to collect an underlying arbitration award from a USD 5 million directors' and officers' liability policy.

• Secured dismissal of garnishment action against liability insurer in which the underlying plaintiff sought to collect on a multi-million-dollar personal injury judgment.

• Obtained summary judgment in favor of insurer in a dispute over the insurer’s obligation to cover approximately USD 5 million in post-judgment interest (affirmed by Illinois Appellate Court).

• Obtained summary judgment for an insurer in a breach of contract and indemnity action filed against its managing general agent, which resulted in the insurer recovering more than USD 1.3 million in damages, including attorneys’ fees

Presentations

• “The Changing Litigation Climate for Formerly Peripheral Asbestos Defendants,” Emerging Insurance Coverage and Allocation Issues Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 2015
• "Extra-Contractual Liability Arising from Failure to Settle Within Policy Limits," Chicago Bar Association, February 2015

Publications

• Co-author with William P. Pipal, "Protection Against Extracontractual Exposure: The Duty of an Insurer to Affirmatively Initiate Settlement Negotiations with Tort Claimants," Journal of American Law, Summer/Fall 2015 Ed.