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A Partner at Butler, Fay E. Ryan devotes her Tampa practice to third-party coverage and extra-contractual matters. Within these practice areas, her numerous claims deal with construction defects, auto accidents, slip-and-falls, product liability, defamation, and more. Fay has experience analyzing virtually all types of liability policies, including CGL, Excess and Umbrella, OCIP, Commercial Auto, Personal Lines, E & O, Environmental, and Reinsurance.  In addition to providing coverage advice, Fay advises clients on good faith claims handling, including settlement in multi-claimant situations.  Fay has tried over fifty jury trials and approximately thirty non-jury trials.

Fay graduated cum laude from Boston College with a Bachelor of Arts degree.  She received her Doctor of Jurisprudence, cum laude, from the University of Florida College of Law. During law school, Fay earned the American Jurisprudence Award in Contracts, Estates and Trusts, English Legal History, and Legal Drafting. She is also a member of the Order of the Coif, an honor society for law school graduates who were in the top ten percent of their graduating class.

Since becoming a lawyer, Fay has contributed to the DRI’s multi-state compendium (Florida chapter). She has also been published in Mealey’s Litigation Report: Bad Faith, and DRI’s: For The Defense magazine.

Admissions

  • Florida

Education

  • Boston College
    Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude
  • University of Florida
    Doctor of Jurisprudence, Order of the Coif

Memberships

  • The Florida Bar

Courts

  • United States District Court – Middle District of Florida
  • United States District Court – Southern District of Florida

Experiences

For more information regarding these cases, please contact Fay Ryan.

Representative Cases Litigated to Conclusion:

FCCI v. Lockbusters: Total Pollution Exclusion on GL policy bars coverage for wrongful death claims of vehicle occupants exposed to hydrogen sulfide from leaking battery.

Endurance v. UCE: Injured construction worker’s status as Statutory Employee for Workers Compensation trumps factual status as Independent Contractor or Temporary Employee; Exclusions for Employer’s Liability & Workers Compensation bar coverage; Summary Judgment granted.

Steadfast v. Celebration Source: Inapplicability of §627. 419 to surplus lines does not prevent consideration of application when interpreting policy, where application is part of policy at common law; Summary Judgment granted for insurer where equipment involved in accident not listed on schedule completed contemporaneously with application.

PCIC v. A & M Fox Roofing: Enforceability challenge to “ongoing operations” limitation endorsement; Summary Judgment granted due to water intrusion during roofing job where roof was not properly protected overnight.

Lloyds V. Scottsdale and Sands Harbor: Denial of Concurrent Co-Insurer’s Summary Judgment motion seeking declaration that it was excess; Concurrent Co-Insurers with identical Other Insurance provisions are co-primary for duty-to-defend bodily injury claim.

American Economy Ins. Co. v. Traylor Wolfe Architects, Inc., et al: Summary judgment for insurer under Business Auto policy; court agrees with insurer that business owner was engaged in personal use at time of accident.

The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company v. Garden Of Eat’n Of Tampa, Inc., et al : Summary judgment under Employer’s Liability exclusion to CGL policy; court finds that accident still arises out of employment where employee trips in parking lot on way to car at end of shift.

MCC v. Clean Seas Company, Inc., et al: Court prevents retailer from aggregating multiple customers’ claims into one “Superclaim” against distributer/policyholder in an attempt to avoid the “per claim” deductible; court also finds that economic losses resulting from damage to insured’s product, are not “Property Damage” under CGL policy.

Media

558 – Kiss, Marry, Or Kill?

Partner Fay Ryan and co-presenters Thomas A. Koval (FCCI Insurance Company), Richard Meyerson (S-E-A, Ltd.), Michael E. Milne (Milne Law Group) and Jorge Santeiro (FCCI Insurance Group) presented "558 - Kiss, Marry, or Kill?" for the first annual Florida Insurance Network Symposium (FINS) in Tampa, FL on August 16, 2019. This panel discussed the efficacy of the pre-suit "Notice and Opportunity ...

International Women’s Day

"LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT MAKING OTHERS BETTER AS A RESULT OF YOUR PRESENCE AND MAKING SURE THAT IMPACT LASTS IN YOUR ABSENCE." -SHERYL SANBERG (COO OF FACEBOOK) ...

Fall Claims Educational Seminar – Third-Party Liability Coverage In Florida

Fay Ryan and Yonit Rosengarten from Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig presented in Sarasota, FL at the FCCI Fall Claims Educational Seminar on the topic of "Third-Party Liability Coverage in Florida". In this presentation, we explored common themes and misperceptions that arise in the practice of Third-Party Coverage in Florida through the discussion of case law and real-world analysis. Topics include...

Surplus Insurers, Too, Can Rely on the Application to Interpret Policy

Section 627.419 of the Florida Statutes provides that “[e]very insurance contract shall be construed according to the entirety of its terms and conditions as set forth in the policy and as amplified, extended, or modified by any application therefor or any rider or endorsement thereto.” This statute has not applied to surplus lines insurers since the “Zota-fix” legislation of 2009, which g...

Reservation of Rights Letters for Casualty Claims: Effective Letters and Strategies

This presentation provides an overview of reservation of rights letters. We discuss the purpose, components, timeliness, practical drafting tips, consequences of failing to issue a reservation of rights letter, suggestions for responding to an insured, and an insurer's ongoing obligations when operating under a reservation of rights. Click here to register. After registering, you will receive ...

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Does Florida’s statutory duty to disclose insurance information apply to out-of-state policies?

One of the most common questions I get from insurers of out-of-state policyholders is whether they are required to honor a Florida claimant’s request for disclosure of insurance information under Florida Statute 627.4137. If the applicable policy was not delivered in Florida or issued for delivery in Florida, the short answer is “No.” Nonetheless, sometimes an insurer can best protect both i...

Three Is A Crowd: Revisiting The Third Party Beneficiary Doctrine

This article examines the third party beneficiary doctrine in conjunction with the approaches courts follow with regard to the collection of an excess judgment from a liability insurer. Click the link on the right to download pdf Article Link>>...

2014 Rimkus Ce Seminar

Fay Ryan and Kimberly Gorak spoke at RIMKUS' 2014 CE Seminar on June 26, 2014. The presentation was titled, "Protecting the Insured from Exposure in the Multiple Claimant Context."...

2013 Clm Northern Florida Chapter Educational Event

Fay Ryan spoke at the 2013 CLM Northern Florida Chapter Educational Event on November 6, 2013.  Fay's topic was "Premises Liability."...

Splitting The Baby: The Insurer’s Duty To Notify The Insured Of The Need For An Allocated Verdict

This is one of a series of articles originally published in Mealey's Litigation Report: Insurance Bad Faith, Vol. 24, #15 (December 9, 2010). © 2010   [Editor's Note: Fay E. Ryan is a partner the Tampa office of Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP, which also has offices in Chicago, Charlotte, Mobile, Tallahassee and Miami. She is an experienced trial attorney in the firm's Extra-Contractual, T...

A Look Back At Some Of 2009s Significant Bad Faith Decisions

This is one of a series of articles originally published in Mealey's Litigation Report: Insurance Bad Faith, Vol. 23, #18 (January 28, 2010). © 2010   [Editor's Note: Fay E. Ryan, is a partner with the law firm of Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP with offices in Charlotte, Miami, Mobile, Tallahassee and Tampa. She is an experienced trial attorney in the firm's Extra-Contractual, Third-Party C...

Justices: Please Take This Case!

This is one of a series of articles under the by line “Butler on Bad Faith” originally published in Mealey's Litigation Report: Insurance Bad Faith, Vol. 15, #12, p. 24 (October 17, 2001). © Copyright Butler 2001. Two recent state court decisions jeopardize the right of insurers to consult legal counsel when considering whether to pay or deny the claim of a policyholder. The Arizona and Ohio...

Fay Ryan