EARLY COURTROOM EXPERIENCE AS AN ADVANTAGE IN PROTECTING INSURERS’ RIGHTS
Jared Kiess is a commercial litigator whose practice consists primarily of representing insurers in first- and third-party coverage disputes. Jared routinely represents third-party insurers in high-stakes liability claims. He has obtained several favorable dispositive rulings on the duties to defend and indemnify claims involving questionable coverage and frequently advises clients in negotiating the resolution of complex claims. Jared has successfully defended first-party insurance clients in a wide variety of commercial property disputes, achieving a favorable settlement or dismissal in a number of litigated cases. Jared also has expertise in appellate matters, representing both insurance and non-insurance clients in appeals before the Washington court of appeals and other appellate courts.
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PRACTICE AREAS
ADMISSIONS
- Oregon, 2022
- Washington, 2019
- Montana, 2015
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Washington, 2019
- U.S. District Court, District of Montana, 2020
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 2020
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, 2019
EDUCATION
- George Mason University School of Law – J.D., cum laude, 2014
- University of Montana – B.A., Political Science / Economics, high honors, 2010
CLIENT WINS
- Utilized discovery to reveal potentially fraudulent insurance claim and obtained order requiring Plaintiff to pay insurer’s fees and costs incurred in discovery, ultimately leading to voluntary dismissal of all plaintiff’s contractual and extra-contractual claims without payment by the carrier. See Drueding v. The Travelers Home & Marine Ins. Co., No. 22-CV-00155-LK, 2022 WL 17092736 (W.D. Wash. Nov. 21, 2022).
- Obtained pre-discovery dismissal on the pleadings of all contractual and extra-contractual claims asserted by insured under commercial general liability policy with respect to underlying auto accident in the face of $10 million covenant judgment. See Ohio Security Ins. Co. v. Garage Plus Storage Aviation, LLC, No. 3:21-cv-5579-BHS, 2022 WL 1213319, ___ F. Supp. 3d ___ (W.D. Wash. Apr. 25, 2022) (holding that exclusions barred coverage). Order dismissing insured’s extra-contractual claims unpublished.
- Obtained ruling that commercial general liability policy does not afford coverage for underlying false advertising lawsuit involving disclosure of ingredients in products on the ground that mere ingestion of unwanted substance does not constitute “bodily injury.” Forbidden Fruit Ciderhouse, LLC v. Ohio Security Ins. Co., No. 3:20-cv-00844-AC, 2022 WL 501323 (D. Or. Jan. 5, 2022), report and recommendation adopted, 2022 WL 541496 (D. Or. Feb. 23, 2022).
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- Obtained summary judgment in favor of insurer in lawsuit involving dispute over coverage for $4 million construction project. The Court agreed with Jared’s arguments that Coverage B of his client’s CGL policy did not afford coverage for “abuse of process” under Montana law, despite 9th Circuit authority to the contrary. West American Ins. Co. v. MVP Holdings, LLC, CV 20-59-M-DWM, 2020 WL 6799003 (D. Mont. Nov. 19, 2020).
- Obtained summary judgment in favor of first-party insurer that Washington’s efficient proximate cause rule did not mandate coverage for non-collapsed portion of large concrete digester tanks that converted animal manure into electricity. (Opinion unpublished as a condition of settlement).
- Successfully defeated several motions to stay insurers’ declaratory judgment actions, including Liberty Mutual Fire Ins. Co. v. SCI Infrastructure, LLC, No. 3:20-cv-06084-RAJ, 2021 WL 3288094 (W.D. Wash. Aug. 2, 2021).
- Successfully reduced damages sought by UIM claimant for unusual shoulder injury damages in multi-day binding arbitration involving numerous medical experts and lay witnesses.
- Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch (2022-2024 — Commercial Litigation)
- Speaker, Coverage Declaratory Judgment Actions, Northwest Insurance Law (The Seminar Group, October 26, 2022).
FROM LEGAL WRITING TO WRITING MUSIC
Outside of the office, Jared’s passion is music. When he is not working, he devotes his free time to playing guitar and singing in several heavy metal projects, and expanding his ever-growing collection of speed and thrash metal albums from the 1980s to the present. Jared also enjoys writing music, which he finds similar to the process for legal writing.