Jessica Samford is a Partner in Freeman Mathis & Gary’s Insurance Coverage and Extra-Contractual Liability National Practice Section, its Professional Liability / Errors and Omissions National Practice Section, and its Appellate Advocacy National Practice Section. Ms. Samford has significant experience representing insurance companies in various liability and bad faith claims in and out of Georgia courtrooms as well as insurance professionals. She serves as Vice-Chair of the Southeast Coverage Practice Team, and a large part of her practice involves insurance coverage analysis and litigation, including declaratory judgment actions and defending against bad faith allegations. She also defends insurance and legal professionals and is a member of FMG’s Lawyers Professional Liability Team. Ms. Samford has some in-house experience as a cyber and media claim manager for an international specialty insurance company in addition to the above.

Before joining Freeman Mathis & Gary, Ms. Samford clerked for the Honorable Clay D. Land of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. She received her Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law, magna cum laude, where she was inducted into the Order of the Coif. She also served as an articles editor for the Georgia Law Review and a teaching assistant for Legal Research & Writing and has received awards for excellence in Evidence and Legal Research and Writing. Ms. Samford also interned for Chief Judge Lawton E. Stephens of the Superior Court of Athens-Clarke County during law school.

Before law school, Ms. Samford earned two undergraduate degrees - her Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business with an emphasis in Legal Studies and her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish - from the University of Georgia, where she graduated summa cum laude and with Highest Honors from the Honors Program.

Ms. Samford is actively involved in the Cobb Chamber of Commerce and strives to live up to the challenge of making an “Infinite Impact” as a 2018 graduate of Leadership Cobb.

Georgia

Georgia Court of Appeals

Supreme Court of Georgia

U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia

U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Georgia

• “FMG convinces Eleventh Circuit to find for client on competing "other insurance" clauses,” FMG BlogLine (December 2024)
• "Court of Appeals of Georgia Affirms No Continuous Representation Rule in Georgia," FMG BlogLine (August 2023)
• "Appellate Opinion Reaffirms that Insurance Coverage Defenses such as Policy Exclusions are Not Subject to Waiver Under Georgia Law," FMG BlogLine (March 2023)
• “Storms and hurricanes: what can insurers do to improve outcomes for all on storm-related claims?" FMG BlogLine (October 2022)
• “The Travis Scott concert tragedy and related insurance issues,” FMG BlogLine (December 2021)
• “Insurance Requirements and First Amendment Rights of Freedom of Speech and Assembly” FMG BlogLine (July 2020)
• “Could There Be Any Insurance Coverage for the Notre-Dame Cathedral Fire?” FMG BlogLine (May 2019)
• "Is Georgia Game for Growing Bad Faith Liability?” FMG BlogLine (July 2018)
• “Tax Day Troubles?” FMG BlogLine (April 2018)
• “In Defending Legal Malpractice Suits in Georgia, When Subsequent Legal Counsel Was Retained Could Be Crucial,” FMG BlogLine (November 2017)
• “It Can Take Much Less Than Fraud to Forfeit Insurance Coverage,” FMG BlogLine (March 2017)
• “Insurance Claims ‘Arising Out Of’ Halloween Festivities,” FMG BlogLine (October 19, 2016)
• “Accident at Wrigley Field and What that Means in the Insurance World,” FMG BlogLine (April 2016)
• “Ashley Madison Hack Raises Questions of Insurable Loss,” FMG BlogLine (September 2015)
• “A Day Late and a Dollar Short,” FMG BlogLine (March 2015)
• “Aiding and Abetting Claims Against Professionals,” co-author, DRI (2014)

• Reshetnichenko v. Starnet Ins. Co., No. 1:22-CV-29 (LAG), 2024 WL 5439689 (M.D. Ga. Mar. 28, 2024)
• Encompass Home & Auto Ins. Co. v. Stevens Hale & Assocs., 621 F. Supp. 3d 1326, 1328 (S.D. Ga. 2022)
• Am. Serv. Ins. Co., Inc. v. Webber’s Transportation, LLC, No. 4:20-CV-013, 2022 WL 3702059 (S.D. Ga. Aug. 26, 2022)
• Butler v. Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co., No. 1:21-CV-2138-MLB, 2022 WL 684157 (N.D. Ga. Mar. 8, 2022)
• Cable Broadband & Telecommunications, LLC v. Depositors Ins. Co., No. 1:16-CV-04006-ELR, 2018 WL 10647207 (N.D. Ga. Feb. 28, 2018)

• Nationwide Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Renaissance Bliss, LLC, 396 F. Supp. 3d 1287 (N.D. Ga. 2019), aff’d 823 Fed. Appx. 815 (11th Cir. 2020)
• Am. Reliable Ins. Co. v. Lancaster, 356 Ga. App. 854, 849 S.E.2d 697 (2020)
• Gemini Ins. Co. v. Stafford Transp., Inc., Civil Action No. 3:15-cv-130-TCB (N.D. Ga. 2016), aff’d Gemini Ins. Co. v. Castro, 723 Fed. Appx. 797 (11th Cir. 2018)
• Popham v. Landmark Am. Ins. Co., 340 Ga. App. 603, 798 S.E.2d 257 (2017)

• Cobb Chamber of Commerce
  • Leadership Cobb Class of 2018
  • Leadership Cobb Alumni Association
  • Cobb Young Professionals
• State Bar of Georgia
• Claims & Litigation Management Alliance (CLM), Extracontractual Committee member
• Federal Bar Association (FBA), Atlanta Chapter Board member

• "Pro Bono Star Award" - Atlanta Legal Aid (2019)

• Professional Development and Insurance 101, co-panelist (January 2025)
• “Construction Defects Coverage in Georgia, Parts I and II,” co-presenter (August 2022)
• “Lawyering & Social Media,” FMG Webinar (September 2018)
• “Bad Faith Failure to Settle in Georgia and California,” FMG Webinar (October 2017)
• "Insurance Coverage Fundamentals:  Reservations of Rights and Declaratory Judgment Actions," co-presenter, (May 2016)
• “Georgia Insurance Coverage Core Workout,” co-presenter, FMG Seminar/Webinar (2015)