Brent W. Beecher
Of Counsel
Practice Emphasis
Brent excels at taking complicated problems and making them accessible for his clients, jurors and judges. His M.B.A. training allows him to assist clients in making decisions that are truly in their best financial interests.
Brent concentrates on insurance policy and bad faith disputes. His practice is unusual in that he represents both insurance policy holders and insurance companies, depending on the case, providing unique insights into both perspectives. This experience allows him to get to the real issues in an effective, efficient manner.
Working for policy holders, Brent has obtained millions of dollars in jury verdicts and settlements for his clients, often including a recovery of his attorney fees, from insurers that wrongfully denied claims. Sometimes he convinces Insurance Companies to reverse course on a denied claim without resort to the legal system, but when a lawsuit is necessary, Brent does not hesitate to go to trial and through the appellate process to obtain the best result for his clients.
Working for insurers, Brent has successfully defended many multi-million-dollar bad faith claims, from motion practice and jury trials in State and Federal Court, all the way through the Washington Supreme Court. He is acutely aware that insureds can exhibit their own brand of bad faith, twisting the legal protections meant to aid consumers into offensive, unrecognizable claims that promote nothing more than unjustified enrichment, forcing premium increases for every other insured.
Outside of his insurance practice, Brent has delivered outstanding results for clients on a wide variety of matters ranging from professional negligence claims to disputes between co-owners of companies.
Brent is a regular lecturer on insurance issues at legal seminars for other attorneys and authored the LexisNexus Practice Guide – Washington Insurance Litigation: Excess and Umbrella Policies (2015).
Brent is also fluent in Spanish.
Education
University of Colorado
- Juris Doctor, 2001
- M.B.A., 2001
Southwestern University, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Judicial Extern, 1998
Bowdoin College
- A.B., Physics, Philosophy and Romance Languages, summa cum laude, 1997
Representative Cases
Australia Unlimited v. Hartford Ins. Co. – Result: Obtained $5.4 million judgment for my client as a result of bad faith claims handling by Hartford.
Mutual of Enumclaw v. Gregg Roofing – Result: Obtained reversal of $1.5 million jury verdict against my client, in published Court of Appeals decision.
Mutual of Enumclaw v. T&G Construction – Result: Obtained reversal of $3.3 million judgment against my client at the Washington Supreme Court.
Barton v. Linvog – Result: Prevailed over State of Washington’s claim for return of $3.6 million payment, at the Washington State Supreme Court.
Speaking Engagements
King County Bar Association – Cyber Insurance Coverage for Business: 2018
Yakima County Bar Association – Insurance Coverage for Agricultural Claims: 2017
MyLaw CLE – Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property Disputes: 2013
Washington State Bar Association – Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property Disputes: 2012
Lorman Bad Faith Insurance Seminars: 2007, 2008, 2010
Publications
LexisNexus Practice Guide – Washington Insurance Litigation: Excess and Umbrella Policies (2015)
Professional and Civic
Martindale Hubble: AV Preeminent
Washington Law and Politics and Super Lawyers Magazines, Rising Star, Super Lawyer
