Seth A. Schmeeckle was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1975. He attended Louisiana State University where he graduated in 1997 with a Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry with minors in Chemistry, Math, Psychology, and Zoology & Physiology and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his Juris Doctorate from Louisiana State University in 2000, where he was also a member of the Louisiana Law Review, 1998-2000. Mr. Schmeeckle became a shareholder of the firm in 2006.

Mr. Schmeeckle's practice areas focus on the representation and counseling of insurance companies. In the early portion of his career, his representation of insurers centered on environmental and toxic tort coverage disputes involving general liability policies. By 2003, his practice branched well beyond the environmental realm to include to all aspects of general liability coverage disputes. Mr. Schmeeckle developed a well-rounded general liability coverage practice which includes litigating the validity of various exclusions in general liability policies, providing pre-litigation counseling, developing both reservation of rights letters and cost sharing agreements, litigating bad faith issues focused on demands for policy limits and the reasonability of settlements, and class actions.

Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Mr. Schmeeckle has dedicated much of his practice to first-party coverage disputes under both homeowner and commercial policies arising out of storm losses. Mr. Schmeeckle's first-party practice ranges from pre-litigation counseling and the taking of EUOs to litigating the largest complex commercial losses arising out of the storm. Included in his first party practice is the litigation of key coverage questions such as the viability of the water damage exclusion, lack of coverage for felled trees which caused no damage, valued policy law issues, and the ever present bad faith claim.

A large amount of his practice now concerns multiple class actions arising out of the storm asserting a variety of claims against various first party insurers. Additionally, pursuant to Case Management No. 4 in the In Re Canal Breaches Consolidated Litigation, No. 05-4182 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Mr. Schmeeckle was selected by the Honorable Stanwood J. Duval, Jr. to serve as one of two Liaison Counsel for the defendants charging Mr. Schmeeckle with the coordination of the alleged defendant tortfeasors, defendant general liability insurers, and defendant first party insurers.

Mr. Schmeeckle is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association and is admitted to practice before all Louisiana state and federal courts.

Publication: "Selecting Defense Counsel and Controlling the Defense: Who Makes the Call When Rights are Reserved?," The Insurance Coverage Law Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 3 (April 2004).

E Mail Address: sschmeeckle@lawla.com

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