Paul S. Festenstein

Paul S. Festenstein is a litigation attorney who defends insurance providers and their valued customers in various matters. He focuses his practice on property and casualty coverage claims, tenders of defense, conflicts of interest and Section 155 litigation, and slip-and-fall cases. He also works with suspect bodily injury claims and all aspects of motor vehicle cases, including uninsured and underinsured matters. He works closely with special investigation units and defends first-party fraud matters for property and casualty claims.

Festenstein’s clients commend him for not only his legal acumen but also his collaborative working style.

Education

• Washington University St. Louis, J.D., 1979
• Illinois State Bar Association Certified Arbitrator/Mediation Training, 2005
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, B.A. in History, 1976

Law School Honors/Involvement

• Extern, U.S. Attorney’s office (St. Louis MO)
• Legal Aid Society of St. Louis
• Moot Court

Admissions & Affiliations

• U. S. District Courts for the
  • Northern District of Illinois
  • Southern District of Illinois
• Illinois

• Represented insurer in highly contested UIM arbitration. Petitioner sought $540,000 in damages, including $90,00 medical care, pain and suffering, loss of normal life, and emotional distress. Introduced evidence that pain management doctor had lost license to practice medicine in Illinois before UIM hearing; panel then refused to award damages for physician’s injection therapy. Petitioner awarded less than 1.4 times the medical bills. (Tracey Koerner vs. Rockford Mutual, binding three-person underinsured motorist arbitration, 2023)
• Successfully defended snowplow service and property manager in seven-day jury trial. Case involved seriously injured plaintiff who had permanent injuries to her left knee. Plaintiff claimed she was still currently unable to fully perform her job and that her work life expectancy had been reduced from 23 years to 5 years. Secured testimony of vocational rehabilitation counselor, liability expert, and damages expert who all completely refuted both claims. Convinced jury to award reasonable damages that did not include future loss of income, loss of a normal life, and disfigurement. Verdict was 12% of last demand of $5.5 million. (Chavez vs. 1st Choice Lawn Service Inc., Circuit Court of Cook County, 2023)
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of commercial motor vehicle insurance carrier that sought to enforce a dropdown clause in an endorsement. (Operator of commercial motor vehicle was not a scheduled driver under the commercial policy.) Result saved insurance company $700,000 when limit of liability for a death claim was reduced from $1 million to $300,000. (Stonegate vs. Reserved Enterprise Transportation, Circuit Court of Cook County, 2022)

Honors & Awards

Leading Lawyer (2018)

News

Events & Speaking Engagements

• “How Many Occurrences Are There in One Accident?” National Conference, International Association of Special Investigation Units (2018).
• “The Investigation and Defense of Slip and Fall Claims,” CUNA claims agents’ training. (Co-presenter)