Ryan T. Brown

Ryan Brown is the founding Partner of the Chicago office of GRSM, and he currently works from the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Des Moines offices. Ryan is a litigator whose practice focuses primarily upon professional liability defense and insurance coverage matters.

Ryan regularly defends professionals, including lawyers, accountants, real estate professionals, and insurance brokers and agents, in civil and administrative proceedings throughout the Midwest.  In addition, he has successfully litigated numerous complex coverage issues through judgment, including issues of insurer bad faith, rescission, estoppel, interrelatedness, and late notice. Ryan also serves as the firm’s national relationship partner with several multi-national insurers, overseeing the handling of claims for certain E&O, D&O, EPL, and Cyber programs. 

In addition to his core practice areas, Ryan has successfully litigated complex and contentious disputes involving employment issues, unfair competition, commercial agreements, business torts, intellectual property, white collar crime, consumer class actions, and wrongful death.

Admissions

• Illinois
• Iowa
• Missouri
• Wisconsin
• U.S. District Court, Central, Northern, and Southern Districts of Illinois
• U.S. District Court, Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana
• U.S. District Court, Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa
• U.S. District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
• U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois
• United States Court of Appeals, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits

Memberships

• Professional Liability Underwriting Society
• American Bar Association

*Not admitted to practice in Kansas

Representative Experience 

• Summary judgment was granted for the firm's hospital client with the Court adopting each of the hospital's arguments while rejecting Plaintiff's claims of disability discrimination and retaliation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. [Redacted at the request of the client] (C.D. Ill, 2016).

• On summary judgment, GRSM successfully argued that its insurer client had timely and properly rescinded a policy based upon a material misrepresentation in the application. RiverSource Life Ins. Co. v. Amy Plumbing, Case No. 12-cv-01388 (N.D. Ill., March 15, 2013).

• GRSM attorneys from Chicago and Seattle won affirmance in the Ninth Circuit of a ruling involving first impression under Washington law that no coverage is available under a D&O policy for the failure of a director or officer to honor a personal guarantee on behalf of a corporation. McRory. v. Catlin Specialty Ins. Co., No. 11-36084, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 5005 (9th Cir. March 13, 2013)(affirming Order granting summary judgment to Catlin (Case No. 10-cv-02095 (W.D. Wash., November 2, 2011).

• Summary judgment was granted to the firm's school district client with the Court finding that Plaintiff was not disabled within the meaning of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Scott v. Kaneland CUSD # 302 et al., Case No. 10-cv-03871 (N.D. Ill, August 31, 2012) (Judge Der-Yeghaiyan).

• GRSM successfully argued on summary judgment that its insurer client had, in fact, complied with the strict requirements of Wisconsin Statute § 631.11(4)(b) when rescinding a life insurance policy during the two-year contestability period. Broege v. The Lincoln National Life Ins. Co., et al., Case No. 11-cv-00566 (W.D. Wis., April 9, 2012). 

• GRSM successfully argued that a holdover franchisee was liable for infringement and counterfeiting which resulted in a judgment on issues of first impression. Century 21 Real Estate, LLC v. Destiny Real Estate Properties et al., 2011 WL 6736060 (N.D. Ind., Dec. 19, 2011).

Presentations

Over the past 20 years, Ryan has addressed various insurance coverage, professional liability, and employment defense issues at industry conferences and client seminars. Ryan’s presentations include:

• The Duty to Defend (IL v. 8 States: Compared and Contrasted), CLE/CE Presentation, April 2019
• Legal Malpractice and Ethics – Pitfalls of Social Media, GRSM Chicago Legal Conference, July 2016

Education

J.D. University of Illinois College of Law

B.A. University of Illinois