THOMAS B. KEEGAN

Thomas B. Keegan was previously a partner in the law firm of Keegan Laterza Gleason, P.C. Before forming KLG, Mr. Keegan was the managing partner of the Chicago office of the Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi law firm. Mr. Keegan received his B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University and his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Illinois College of Law. While at the University of Illinois, he received the American Jurisprudence Award for Trial Advocacy, the Waterman Prize for Excellence in Oral Advocacy, and the Rickert Award for Excellence on the National Moot Court Team.

Mr. Keegan’s practice focuses on a wide variety of matters that range from complex insurance coverage disputes to business litigation alleging breach of contract, tortious interference, conspiracy, promissory estoppel and fraud-type claims, and construction disputes. In the insurance coverage area, Mr. Keegan has handled cases involving first-party, third-party, boiler and machinery, builders risk, business interruption, environmental and asbestos claims.

In the first-party and boiler and machinery areas, Mr. Keegan has handled claims involving property damage, business interruption, contingent business interruption, extra expense, equipment breakdown, spoilage or perishable goods, civil authority, ordinance or law, utility services or utility interruption coverage, utility services away from a covered location coverage, as well as application of various notice provisions, exclusions, limits, sub-limits and deductibles. Mr. Keegan also has extensive experience handling weather-related, named storm and utility service-related claims, including claims arising out of Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Ivan, Tropical Storm Allison and the US/Canada Blackout. In a recent case, Mr. Keegan and his partner, Mr. Gleason obtained summary judgment for their insurer client based on late notice and the “solely attributable to” requirement in an eight-figure case involving the destruction of the roof at the Pontiac Silverdome.

Mr. Keegan has represented insured’s and insurers in cases involving claims under builders risk policies and in disputes about coverage for construction projects, including the construction of power plants, the renovation of municipal sewer systems, and the construction and renovation of commercial and residential properties. He has successfully asserted the suit the limitation in a multi-million dollar case under a builders risk policy and has pursued subrogation claims on behalf of insurers in cases involving billion dollar construction projects.

In the environmental and asbestos area, Mr. Keegan has litigated cases in more than 20 states. In a highly publicized matter, Mr. Keegan obtained a directed verdict for his insurer client in a case that was tried in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida for more than 13 months over the course of four years. The plaintiff in that case was seeking hundreds of millions in coverage for asbestos bodily injury claims.

In the business litigation area, Mr. Keegan has represented clients in cases pending throughout the United States. He has represented clients that were named as defendants in class actions in Illinois, California, Florida, Minnesota, Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Texas and Missouri. Mr. Keegan has successfully pursued and defended against ERISA benefit claims, including both life insurance and disability claims. He also represents individuals and corporations in trade secret and employment/severance-type disputes.

In the construction litigation area, Mr. Keegan has represented both plaintiffs and defendants at trial and in arbitrations. Mr. Keegan was part of the legal team that obtained a multi- million dollar recovery for certain department stores and their insurers in the Chicago Flood litigation. Most recently, Mr. Keegan acted as lead trial counsel in the arbitration of an eight-figure matter involving the construction of a power plant.

Bar Admissions
Illinois Bar, both state and federal, and the Court of Appeals for the Sixth and Seventh Circuits. He is also admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.