Stephen Berry

Full Profile

Stephen Berry assists clients with insurance coverage and bad faith strategy, advice, and litigation. Stephen’s experience spans the southeastern United States and focuses on general liability, construction defect, professional liability, and property coverages.

Insurers often call upon Stephen for advice and defense with regard to Holt demands, and similar attempts to manufacture bad-faith liability, following his victories in the Georgia Supreme Court and Alabama Supreme Court.

Stephen is also experienced in regulatory compliance, underwriting strategy, and corporate governance issues. As chief legal officer of an insurance company, Stephen has advised CEOs, Boards of Directors, and Chief Claims Officers about such matters in several states.

Previously, Stephen was General Counsel of a major southeastern insurer in the property and casualty market, after two decades of private practice as a coverage litigator. He is also an author of three books about insurance coverage and bad faith, focused on Georgia law, intellectual property and cyber claims, and appraisals in property damage claims.

Admissions

• Georgia
• Louisiana

Education

• J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 1997
• M.A., University of Virginia, 1993
• B.A., University of Richmond, 1992

Memberships

• Board of Directors, The Atlanta Shakespeare Company
• German American Chamber of Commerce
• Habitat for Humanity

Experience

• Lead counsel for victorious insurer in Georgia’s seminal case on pre-suit bad-faith set-up demands. (2019)
• Lead counsel for victorious insurer in Alabama's seminal case on post-denial bad-faith set-up claims. (2002)
• Coordinated a major insurer’s strategy for coverage questions and settlement issues arising out of Chinese Drywall, in courts throughout Florida, Louisiana, and other states. 
• Coordinated insurer’s strategy of creating favorable precedents in certain states with regard to late notice, voluntary payments, advantageous exhaustion of limits, and extent of AI coverage.
• Won summary judgment for insurer of subcontractors pursued by nationwide homebuilders for AI coverage.
• Won summary judgment for insurers in Personal and Advertising Injury claims in Illinois, California, and Georgia.
• Defended insurer in bad faith litigation and 50 separate contested appraisals in Hurricane Katrina claim filed by 50-building college campus in Mississippi.
• Defended insurer in 12 appraisal and bad faith claims arising out of hurricane damage to high-rise condominiums in Florida.
• Coached nationwide insurers to avoid bad faith claims arising out of the duty to settle and helped them defeat such claims after they arise.

Presentations

• Panelist, “Coverage and Defense Issues Involving Construction Statute of Repose,” CLM Construction Conference, Los Angeles, September 2024
• Frequent speaker on recent developments in Georgia insurance law

Publications

• Georgia Property and Liability Insurance Law, updated annually by Westlaw since 2012
• “The Peculiarities of Georgia Insurance Law,” Georgia Bar Journal, April 2019
• Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property Claims, Lexus, 2017
• Appraisals in Property Damage Claims, CLM, 2015