Bryan M. Shay is a Principal in the Firm’s Philadelphia and New Jersey offices, and a member of the Firm's Insurance Law Department. With a practice focused on insurance coverage and bad faith litigation, Mr. Shay advises and represents national clients in a variety of complex coverage and bad faith disputes arising from both commercial and personal insurance policies, including: CGL coverage claims (including construction defect/injury matters); property insurance claims; commercial and personal automobile claims; policyholder fraud; policy rescission; health, life, and disability insurance claims; ERISA litigation regarding benefit claims and challenges to health plans, fiduciary issues, and sophisticated preemption issues; annuity and structured settlement disputes; class action litigation; indemnity disputes between insurers; and bad faith claims.
Mr. Shay counsels and assists the Firm’s insurance clients in all aspects of coverage matters, such as analyzing insurance contracts; preparing coverage opinions and reservation of rights letters; litigating coverage disputes through declaratory judgment actions; and defending the Firm’s clients against bad faith and unfair trade practices claims. Mr. Shay has experience litigating in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; all federal district courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the state trial courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Mr. Shay has been selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2010 - 2021 editions of Philadelphia Magazine’s “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer - Rising Stars,” a listing which includes the top 2.5 percent of attorneys in the Commonwealth who are 40 years of age or younger or have been practicing for less than 10 years. For information about this selection and an overview of common third-party publications, rankings, and lists methodologies, click here.
Prior to joining Post & Schell, Mr. Shay served as a law clerk to the Hon. Franklin S. Van Antwerpen of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
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- Purvi v. National Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22774 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 12, 2019) (obtained summary judgment in favor of insurer in action alleging bad faith in handling of fire loss claim under commercial property insurance)
- Arya v. Provident Life & Accident Ins. Co., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161604 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 21, 2018) (obtained summary judgment in favor of insurer on all counts in dispute regarding calculation of COLA benefits under disability insurance policy)
- Reichard v. United of Omaha Life Ins. Co., 805 Fed. Appx. 111 (3d Cir. 2020) (obtained decision affirming summary judgment in favor of insurer in ERISA action alleging wrongful termination of long-term disability benefits under employer-issued disability insurance plan)
- Am. Nat'l Prop. & Cas. Co. v. Felix, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61020 (W.D. Pa., April 11, 2018) (successful motion for summary judgment on behalf of property insurer dismissing statutory and common law bad faith claims in case alleging fraudulent misrepresentations made by the insured in the presentation of a fire loss claim in excess of $1 million)
- Foglia v. Metropolitan Property & Casualty Ins. Co., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15553 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 31, 2018) (obtained summary judgment in favor of insurer on all counts in dispute regarding liability coverage under homeowners’ policy for alleged failure to disclose preexisting property damage during sale of house)
- D'Elia v. Unum Life Ins. Co., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108169 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 15, 2016) (obtained dismissal of state law claims based on ERISA preemption in case arising from claims under five individual disability policies)
- Great West Casualty Co. v. Selective Ins. Co. of America, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162274 (W.D. Pa. Sept. 28, 2017) (obtained summary judgment in favor of insurer in declaratory judgment action seeking contribution and apportionment of liability coverage for insured under commercial trucking insurance policy)
- Corley v. Nat'l Indem. Co., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52017 (E.D. Pa., Apr. 18, 2016) and 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124538 (E.D. Pa. September 9, 2016) (successful representation of a commercial auto insurer in removing a matter to a preferred federal court venue, based on the fraudulent joinder of a co-defendant, despite aggressive opposition from plaintiff’s counsel, and later successful motion to bifurcate plaintiff’s bad faith claim and stay all discovery pending resolution of the UIM contract claim).
- Shaw v. National Liability & Fire Ins. Co., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118075 (M.D. Pa. Sept. 4, 2015) (obtained dismissal of claims against insurer arising from cancellation of commercial automobile insurance policy and handling of subsequent automobile accident claim thereunder)
- Neff v. UnumProvident Corp., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110026 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 19, 2015) (obtained dismissal of entire action—including counts for RICO, conversion, intentional interference with contractual relations, fraud, and civil conspiracy—based on the expiration of the statutes of limitations and inapplicability of the discovery rule)
- Westfield Ins. Co. v. Rustic Exteriors, Inc., et al., No. 11-cv-6011, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90923 (E.D. Pa. Mar. 22, 2013) (summary judgment obtained in favor of CGL insurer declaring no duty to defend or indemnify contractor in connection with claims for defective workmanship)
- Kelly v. Nat’l Liab. & Fire Ins. Co., 444 Fed. Appx. 529 (3d Cir. 2011) (upholding district court’s summary judgment in favor of business auto liability insurer on breach of contract and bad faith claims)
- Stanford v. Nat'l Grange Ins. Co., 64 F. Supp. 3d 649 (E.D. Pa. 2014) (obtained summary judgment in favor of motor vehicle insurer on breach of contract and bad faith actions under Pennsylvania and Delaware law based upon insurer’s reasonable handling of UIM claim)
- Tubman v. USAA Cas. Ins. Co., 943 F. Supp. 2d 525 (E.D. Pa. 2013)(dismissal obtained of extra-contractual claims against auto insurer alleging breach of fiduciary duty, breach of common law bad faith, and violation of Pennsylvania's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law)
- Foster v. USAA Cas. Ins. Co., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 181560 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 31, 2013) (summary judgment obtained in favor of auto insurer based upon UIM policy exclusion for injury to covered person occupying motor vehicle owned or regularly used by insured)
- Co-Author, "Potential Impact of 'Avandia' on Bad Faith Litigation in Pennsylvania," The Legal Intelligencer's Insurance Law Supplement (August 2019)
- Co-Author, "Supreme Court Clarifies ERISA’s Church Plan Exemption, But Questions Remain," DRI's ERISA Report (September 8, 2017)
- Co-Author, "The Top 10 Decisions From 25 Years of Bad-Faith Law," The Legal Intelligencer (July 7, 2015)
- Author: “CGL Coverage and the Undocumented Worker: Perspectives from the Defense,” Course Materials for PA Bar Institute Seminar, “Representing the Undocumented Worker in an Injury Case” (December 2014)
- Author: Article, “Truth Or Consequences: The Fifth Amendment Privilege Does Not Excuse An Insured’s Failure To Submit To An Examination Under Oath,” PA Defense Institute Counterpoint (April 2014)
- Co-Author: Course Materials: "Expert Evidence in the Bad Faith Case,” PA Bar Institute Bad Faith Seminar (April 2014)
- “So I Says to ‘The Guy,’ I Says…”: The Constitutionality of Neutral Pronoun Redaction in Multi-Defendant Criminal Trials, 48 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 345 (2006)
- Panelist, "Learning Coverages Through Claims Examples," Institute of Strategic Education Partners (ISEP) at Philadelphia Insurance Co., Bala Cynwyd, PA (December 18, 2019)
- “Representing the Undocumented Worker in an Injury Case,” PA Bar Institute Seminar (December 2014): Panel presentation discussing liability coverage under CGL policies for injuries to undocumented workers
