Andrew Chestnut is a Senior Counsel in the Chicago office of GRSM focusing on complex insurance coverage matters.  Andrew represents and provides counseling to domestic and London market insurers on claims arising from directors and officers liability, attorney malpractice, mortgage bankers and brokers liability, employment practices liability, broker dealer and other financial institution matters.  He also has extensive experience counsel counseling insurance clients on coverage matters arising from a variety of losses under commercial general liability and excess insurance policies.  

Andrew is also a seasoned litigator whose background involves both coverage and direct litigation matters.  He has represented insurers in high-exposure coverage litigation stemming from the nationwide opioid crisis, along with other product liability, intellectual property, personal injury, and commercial losses.  In addition, Andrew has directly represented corporations, individuals, and partnerships in a variety of fields, including lawsuits alleging wrongful death, medical malpractice, product liability, defamation, and commercial disputes.  In particular, he has provided considerable legal counsel in the rail industry, having served as trial counsel for railroad clients in a variety of personal injury, FELA, and commercial lawsuits, and speaking at several railroad liability conferences about various risk management issues.  He has also provided coverage analysis and monitoring services for excess insurance carriers exposed to potential losses arising from train derailments, consumer class actions, and municipal liability.

Andrew is also experienced in representing and counseling insurers on bad faith matters.  Along with litigating numerous bad faith lawsuits, he has served as national coordinating counsel for a major insurance company client’s defense of all third-party bad faith litigation throughout the United States. Andrew combines his orientation to detail with his considerable litigation background and understanding of bad faith risks to provide clients with a practically efficient and strategic approach to counseling clients on complex coverage issues.

Admissions

• Illinois
• Indiana
• United States District Court, Northern and Central Districts of Illinois
• United States District Court, Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana
• United States District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin
• United States District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania

Memberships

• National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel, Member
• Illinois State Bar Association

Community Involvement

• Xavier University Executive Mentorship Program
   

Insurance Coverage, Monitoring, and Bad Faith Representative Experience

• Provided extensive investigation and coverage analysis to commercial and excess carriers following tender of dozens of cancer lawsuits stemming from policyholder’s large-scale trichloroethylene (TCE) pollution event in St. Paul, Minnesota (2023).
• Served as national coordinating counsel for a major insurance company client’s defense of all third-party bad faith litigation throughout the United States (2021–2023).
• Represented insurance clients in ongoing high-exposure coverage litigation stemming from pharmacy retailers’ liabilities in the multi-district litigation arising from the nationwide opioid epidemic (2021–2023).
• Dery v. Aviva, et al. (Marion County, Indiana, 2022): Secured dismissal with prejudice as coverage counsel for Canadian insurance company clients in professional liability dispute for lack of personal jurisdiction in Indiana state court after extensive briefing and oral arguments.
• American Inter-Fidelity Exchange v. Rypninskyi (Northern District of Illinois, 2022): Extensively litigated complex coverage matter stemming from policyholder’s non-cooperation; saved insurance client from paying significant portion of underlying judgment following court-ordered settlement conference.
• Provided coverage analysis and monitoring services for domestic insurers following major train derailments, including the Metrolink derailment in Oxnard, California (2015) and the Amtrak Train 501 Derailment in Tacoma, Washington (2017).

Direct Litigation and Appellate Representative Matters

• Rambo v. ComEd, et al. (Livingston County, Illinois 2023): Served as lead counsel and obtained summary judgment for railroad construction contractor in high-value wrongful death case arising from the electrocution of a minor in Illinois state court after conducting all discovery and oral arguments.
• Tutor Perini Corp. v. 299 N. Federal Master (Broward County, Florida, 2023): Served as appellate counsel for major general contractor in multi-million dollar lawsuit stemming from alleged major defects in construction of 23-floor hotel in Fort Lauderdale.
• Hayes v. Wisconsin & Southern Railroad (Eastern District of Wisconsin, 2022): Secured favorable mediation result on behalf of railroad and excess carriers in high-exposure FELA matter and defeated challenge of additional insured tender for defense expenses to third-party contractor’s insurer.
• Buck v. INDOT, et al. (Tippecanoe County, Indiana, 2020): Achieved favorable mediation result for highway maintenance-of-traffic contractor and its insurers in lawsuit arising from multi-person auto fatality in construction zone. 
• Gerbush v. Kass Management (Cook County, Illinois, 2019): Represented property manager in consumer class action case: achieved outstanding settlement result through strategic discovery practices, intensive coordination with client, and aggressive advocacy. 
• LaBrec v. Wisconsin & Southern Railroad (Western District of Wisconsin, 2019): Trial counsel for railroad client in FELA matter arising from employee injury; achieved favorable settlement during trial after prevailing on key discovery motions.
• Loop v. Chicago Transit Authority (Cook County, Illinois, 2017): Achieved favorable result at trial in retaliatory discharge lawsuit against the CTA.
• Starks v. City of Waukegan, et al. (Northern District of Illinois, 2015): Secured summary judgment for forensic odonatologists in lawsuit stemming from wrongful prosecution and conviction.

Presentations

• Erosion of the Self-Insured Retention, Railroad Liability Conference, Kansas City, July 2023
• Panel Moderator, State of the Rail Insurance Market, Railroad Liability Conference, St. Louis, July 2022