David E. Heiss | Shareholder

David E. Heiss is a shareholder and member of the Board of Directors of Fisher Kanaris P.C. Mr. Heiss’ practice is principally concentrated in the area of insurance coverage. He assists several first-party carriers at the policy drafting, claims investigation and litigation stages. Mr. Heiss provides legal opinions on a broad-range of property and liability insurance issues including: agent/broker activities, all risk, asbestos removal, bad faith, builder’s risk, boiler and machinery, business interruption, collapse, installation floater coverages, contamination, fine arts claims, extended coverages, and reinsurance disputes. He also has extensive experience in the litigation of large complex first-party property coverage disputes including numerous disputes in excess of $100,000,000. Mr. Heiss’ involvement includes experience in all phases of litigation including numerous matters which he has tried to verdict.

He has considerable experience in the handling of large property damage losses and the complex cross-discipline problems that arise from these claims. For example, Mr. Heiss recently obtained summary judgment on behalf of a property insurer which was affirmed by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals where he was able to establish that the insured violated the Fraud, Concealment and Misrepresentation provision in the policy at issue stemming from a loss at the insured’s retail apparel business. Mr. Heiss also recently obtained a defense verdict in a matter pending in the Northern District of Illinois where a commercial property insurer established the fire at issue was incendiary in nature. He has also had verdicts and summary dispositions in favor of commercial property insurers affirmed by state and federal appellate courts throughout the country.

Mr. Heiss successfully represents insureds in defense of claims covered under comprehensive general liability policies and professional liability policies, and has defended insureds against personal injury claims involving catastrophic injury. Recently, he obtained a dismissal with prejudice of all claims against an architectural firm where Plaintiffs’ theory of liability presented an issue of first impression under Illinois law.

He also practices in the area of loss recovery and has successfully prosecuted claims of subrogated insurers as well as the uninsured interests of their insureds which vary from Fortune 500 companies to small limited partnerships. Typical cases involve the analysis of complex tort, contractual, and Uniform Commercial Code issues. Mr. Heiss has successfully resolved numerous cases resulting in seven-figure recoveries for his clients.

Mr. Heiss has been invited on multiple occasions to speak on the subject of property insurance coverage including coverage issues which arose out of the September 2001 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina and the handling of bad faith insurance claims.

Mr. Heiss is a graduate of DePauw University and The John Marshall Law School. He is admitted to practice in Illinois, United States District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois and the Southern District of Indiana as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Eighth and Ninth Circuits.