Focus Areas
Examples of Sean’s experience include:
- Representing clients in connection with insurance policy construction and coverage-related disputes. Sean has extensive experience prosecuting breach of contract, declaratory judgment and bad faith claims on behalf of policyholders against insurers under commercial general liability, first-party property, D&O, professional liability, employment practices liability and various other policies.
- Securing first-party property coverage on behalf of a manufacturing client in connection with a large loss of products stored at a Georgia warehouse where the insurer unsuccessfully argued that the third-party liability insurer should first answer for the loss.
- Securing a defense for retail client in a breach of contract action where liability policy included a manuscript endorsement providing coverage for breach of contract claims.
- Counseling chemical company client on coverage allocation issues related to the defense and settlement of asbestos-related injury claims involving decades-old liability policies.
- Obtaining a defense verdict on behalf of a wireless communications client in a bench trial on breach of contract claims involving the resale of services.
- Representing policyholder in business interruption coverage dispute arising out of a fire at a manufacturing facility.
- Defending residential and industrial supply company against breach of fiduciary duty claims arising out of a minority shareholder cash-out transaction.
- “Update on Insurance Coverage for COVID-19 Losses,” Bar Briefs (Dayton Bar Association publication), April 2021
- “Federal Court Decisions Could Cause Surge in Pandemic-Related Insurance Cases in Ohio,” Thompson Hine COVID-19 Update, January 2021
- “Insurance Coverage for Losses Related to the Coronavirus,” Thompson Hine COVID-19 Update, March 2020
- “Civil Trial & ADR: Recent Amendments to Fed. R. Evid. 902,” Bar Briefs (Dayton Bar Association publication), 2018
- “The Do’s and Don’ts of a First Year Associate,” Bar Briefs (Dayton Bar Association publication), 2015
- “Sacksteder v. Senney, Ohio’s Second District Rejects the Twombly and Iqbal Plausibility Test,” Bar Briefs, 2013
- “An Uneven Playing Field: Public Employees are Disadvantaged in FMLA Eligibility/Notice Disputes,” Dayton Law Review 361, 2011
- Co-presenter, “Introduction to Insurance Recovery,” Dayton Bar Association, October 17, 2022
- Co-presenter, “Mitigating Risk in Circumstances Involving Employee Frolic and Detour,” April 26, 2022
- “Update on Insurance Coverage for Pandemic-Related Losses,” Ohio State Bar Association, July 8, 2021
- Co-presenter, “Mitigating Supply Agreement Risks: Structuring Defense, Indemnity, and Insurance Provisions, Allocating Liability Between Manufacturers, Suppliers, and End Sellers; Maximizing Insurance Coverage for Losses,” Strafford Webinar, February 16, 2021
- Panelist, “Online Interviews and Networking,” Starting Your Legal Career in Uncertain Times: What New Lawyers Need to Know Webinar sponsored by the Ohio State Bar Association, November 20, 2020
- “Preparing Your Business for the COVID-19 World: Insurance Considerations,” Thompson Hine Webinar, May 5, 2020
- Co-presenter, “Storytelling from Cradle to Grave,” Carl D. Kessler Inn of Court, October 2013
- Selected to Dayton Business Journal Forty Under 40, class of 2023
- Included in the 2021 to 2025 editions of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for Commercial Litigation and Insurance Law
- Selected to the Ohio Rising Stars list, 2018
- CALI Excellence for the Future Awards: Civil Procedure, Professional Responsibility, Externship
Professional Associations
- Greater Dayton Volunteer Lawyers Project, Board Member
- Ohio State Bar Association, Insurance Law Committee member
- Member-at-Large of the Dayton Bar Association Board of Trustees,
July 2020 through June 2022 - Co-chair of the Dayton Bar Association’s Civil Trial Practice and ADR Section, 2019-2020
- Dayton Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division publications co-chair, 2013-2015
- Dayton Federal Bar Association, National Convention Planning Committee member, 2016
Community Activities
- Dayton Society of Natural History, Boonshoft Museum of Discovery; Associate Board Member
- Muse Machine, Board of Trustees
- Campaign for Equal Justice, Joint Development Committee, 2018-2019
- Department of the Air Force Air War College, 2015
- Knights of Columbus, Maria Joseph Council 4022, member; former Recorder and Advocate
- Co-Chair, Access to Justice Awards Celebration, 2018
Education
- University of Dayton School of Law, J.D., 2011, cum laude,
University of Dayton Law Review, research editor (2010-2011), staff writer (2009-2010)
- Centre College, B.A., 2006
Bar Admissions
- Ohio
Court Admissions
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
Select a filter
- Thompson Hine Elects Six New Partners,
Thompson Hine LLP
, January 13, 2022 - Federal Court Decisions Could Cause Surge in Pandemic-Related Insurance Cases in Ohio,
COVID-19 Update
, January 27, 2021 - Insurance Coverage for Losses Related to the Coronavirus,
COVID-19 Update
, March 23, 2020