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Scott E. Stewart heads the firm’s personal injury and legal malpractice section. He also specializes in insurance law bad faith claims, personal injury including vehicle and truck accidents, maritime law, intentional tort, social security disability, drug recall litigation and other areas of personal injury practice. (See the information link to the right for more information on all these specialties.)
Scott graduated from Bethany College in 1973 and from the Case Western Reserve School of Law with his Juris Doctorate in 1976. He was admitted to the Ohio Bar the same year. He is admitted to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio and other Federal Courts.
Scott was honored by gaining membership as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in May of 1993. He was recertified in 1998, 2003 and 2008. He is one of 153 in Ohio. It is the only group that can certify a civil trial advocate. He is an Ohio Super Lawyer for at least the last four years, received for the top 5% in the State as voted by his peers and a Best Lawyer in America for the last 10 years also reserved for the top 5% of the nation’s lawyer as voted by his peers. He is a member of the Million Dollar and Multiple Million Dollar Advocates Forum received to persons in his case who have the verdicts exceeding $2,000,000 or more settlements. Scott has had four verdicts and settlements exceeding that criterion. He is AV rated by Martindale & Hubbell. The highest rating given.
Scott is a member and past president of the Cleveland Academy of Trial Attorneys as well as a member of the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the Ohio State Bar Association where he is currently a district representative. As a member of the Cleveland Bar Association, Scott is the past chairman of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee and was a former director on the Young Lawyers’ Section. Currently, he is a past chairman of the Common Pleas Committee of the Litigation Section.
He is a Diplomat in the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys and a member of the American Judicature Society, the National Organization of Social Security Claimant’s Representatives, the Ohio State Bar Foundation and one of fewer than a hundred and thirty associates of the American Board of Trial Advocates.
In addition to lecturing to other practicing lawyers in Ohio, Scott has published on the topics of intentional tort law and experts.
Scott has been a partner since 1983.
From The Desk of Scott Stewart
"While our firm’s expertise and mine over the last 35 years is in handling legal malpractice cases, I have handled those malpractice cases in many areas other than my own specialty.
Over the course of my years, outside of legal malpractice, I have handled many negligence claims, product liability claims (which are claims for defective products), aviation claims for both defective aircraft and negligence in flying that aircraft, admiralty cases that involve the specific are of the law that involves claims involving vessels.
I have handled many claims involving insurance including uninsured motorist and what they call bad faith litigation when an insurance company does not treat its insured or does not treat a defendant correctly and makes an offer to my client who then exposes that defendant to a judgment that is in excess of their insurance coverage. That is called third-party bad faith. Our firm had the original verdict in the State of Ohio of over seven figures for an insurance bad faith claim that occurred in a third-party situation where we took over the bad faith claim, a defendant who injured our client had against his own insurance carrier when the verdict greatly exceeded his insurance policy.
I have also handled safe place to work claims, VSSR claims, accounting and other professional malpractice. I have handled legal malpractice cases in all of those fields were I am very conversant and understand the underlying law and have an ability myself to determine whether there is a deviation and damages even before I obtain an expert.
However, in addition to that, I have successfully handled very significant legal malpractice cases that took place in areas that I had not been exposed to before. For example, an investor Ponzi scam resulted in our client retaining an attorney to handle the claim against the investment houses. Although I had not had previous experience in that, I learned the entire area of the law, worked with an expert, and was successful in bringing the legal malpractice claim against that attorney and actually in discovering what had previously not been determined and was not determined even by our own expert until I saw it, that the negligent attorney entered into an arbitration proceeding which by definition for every attorney in the country who entered it, prejudiced their client because the standard of review in the arbitration was far greater and harder than the law required it to be. That area was: an arbitration procedure defined our client had to show reasonable reliance. The standard or burden should have been actual reliance which is a far easier standard to prove."
Need help with your legal malpractice or personal injury case?
There is no charge for the initial consultation, whether by e-mail, telephone or by office visit. So, please do not hesitate to set up an appointment today. Fill out the case evaluation form at the bottom of the page to let us know how we may assist you with your legal matter.
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Choose Stewart & DeChant and let our experience go to work for you.
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Nationally from 2004 to 2007, 44,000 claims were asserted against insured lawyers.
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Claims payouts for the entire property-casualty industry have decreased each year for the past decade.
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One out of every 10 construction workers will suffer some form of injury this year.
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There is a death caused by a motor vehicle crash every 12 minutes.
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Seventy one percent of all initial claims filed in the state of Ohio are denied.
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In 2003 there were over 100,000 deaths in the United States due
to unintentional injuries.
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