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Scott L. Davis
Partner
Overview
Scott Davis helps clients resolve complex business disputes through strategic counseling and litigation, advancing their interests while reducing financial exposure as he creates optimal paths for success in and out of the courtroom. His areas of focus include insurance coverage and bad faith claims, environmental disputes, financial disputes, business litigation, and personal injury litigation.
With decades of legal experience, Scott applies a mix of trusted strategies and creative, adaptable planning to traditional business litigation as well as novel matters. He has adeptly navigated everything from CERCLA cost recovery actions to partnership disputes to mass torts to insurance litigation of every type, notably using both litigation and arbitration to achieve timely business objectives with minimal risk.
Scott works with many renowned national and international companies, frequently crafting processes and protocols to address new legal challenges and landscapes, some of which have been used as industry models.
Credentials
Education
- University of Tennessee College of Law (J.D.), with high honors, Order of the Coif
- Wright State University (B.A.)
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
- Secured summary judgment in federal court confirming that AIG Specialty Insurance Co. had no coverage obligation to two energy companies under an environmental remediation policy on a $100 million claim, and successfully defended that judgment on appeal to the Fifth Circuit.
- Hired mid-litigation as lead counsel for two large sureties in declaratory judgment action against a contractor and international, government-owned bank. The California federal case involved significant claims and counterclaims against the sureties under transportation-related bonds and indemnity agreements.
- Negotiated settlement with the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection that resolved client’s liabilities on a $140 million surety bond applicable to contamination at certain portions of the Meadowlands, while also providing the client an opportunity to recoup monies it had paid under the bond.
- Won dismissal of a bad faith lawsuit brought against an insurer by a lender in Puerto Rico. The trial court found that the lender failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted as a matter of Puerto Rico law.
- Represented an insurer as subrogee in two CERCLA proceedings against the United States. The insurer issued a specialty lines environmental pollution policy to a former military ordnance manufacturer. The insurer sought contribution for response/cleanup costs that it paid on its insured’s behalf in connection with two different manufacturing sites. The insurer is one of the first to successfully bring a CERCLA subrogation action under section 9612 of CERCLA in the Ninth Circuit.
- Successfully represented UBS Warburg in nine lawsuits brought in state and federal court by a loan servicer of three different commercial mortgage-backed securities trusts alleging that more than $1 billion in loans had been improperly originated and sold to the trusts.
- Successfully represented a client in more than a dozen arbitrations in seven states involving hundreds of securitized commercial real estate loans insured under secured creditor policies.
- Negotiated favorable settlement for an insurer during Freedom Industries’ bankruptcy proceeding, and ultimately obtained bankruptcy court approval of the settlement despite objections from several parties.
- Successfully represented client in the trial of six wrongful death cases involving the crash of a corporate aircraft in Malaysia, resulting in a substantial loss-of-inheritance claim in Texas state court.
- Successfully represented an international reinsurer in a series of disputes in state, federal and bankruptcy courts with the managing general agent of a non-standard automobile insurance program. The dispute involved not only the termination of the MGA contracts and litigation over premium recoveries, but the assessment of reserves, management of all pending claims and implementation of loss-mitigation strategies.
- Obtained verdicts on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of cases, including coverage litigation, a diverse range of business disputes, and both personal injury and property damage claims. These include verdicts in both state and federal court, both domestic and international arbitration forums, and adversary proceedings in bankruptcy court.
- Argued appeals in state court in both Texas and New York, and before the Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth federal circuit courts.
- Led a comprehensive claim review and reserve assessment for thousands of environmental claims on behalf of a major national carrier.
- Dallas Theater Center, Board of Trustees and Executive Committee
- Everlasting Light Productions, Producer
- Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation, 2015-2025
- Chambers USA, Insurance, 2020-2024; Recognized Practitioner, 2018-2019
- PFAS Litigation and Regulatory Developments, Perrin Conferences, February 2025