Jason S. Callicoat

Jason Callicoat is a Partner in Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP’s Chicago office. Mr. Callicoat is a highly experienced litigator who focuses his practice in the area of insurance coverage, in both state and federal courts. He has represented insurance carriers with regard to first-party and third-party claims, both in and out of the courtroom. Additionally, he has substantial experience defending corporate entities in commercial litigation, including trade-secret theft, breach of non-compete agreements and business-to-business transactional disputes. Mr. Callicoat also has significant experience litigating general liability matters, including high-exposure bodily injury and wrongful death cases. He has represented transportation companies, municipal entities, construction subcontractors, condominium associations, real estate developers and software companies.

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Illinois

United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois

• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of insurance carrier in bad faith case alleging that carrier wrongfully denied coverage and its duty to defend its insured on an auto policy, where the insured’s son, a named excluded driver, was operating the vehicle at the time of the accident at issue. The court granted summary judgment even though the underlying case alleged negligent entrustment and negligent supervision claims against the named insured.
• Obtained declaratory judgment that insurance carrier owed coverage to insured in underlying breach of contract and product liability action, which alleged insured’s allegedly microwave-safe packaging ignited and caught fire when heated in microwaves.
• Obtained summary judgment in favor of a local housing authority in a U.S. District Court case for breach of loan guaranty, filed against the housing authority by a bank seeking approximately $1.8 million.
• Won a decision by the Illinois Third District Appellate Court upholding summary judgment in favor of two property owners in a wrongful death case arising out of motor vehicle crash caused by an intoxicated driver. The driver had been visiting the property owners and drinking beer on their property after helping them unload some grain. The Appellate Court agreed the property owners were not liable because the driver did not become their employee by voluntarily helping to unload the grain, and they did not know he was intoxicated when he chose to drive away from the property.
• Won summary judgment for a warehousing company that Plaintiff alleged had negligently lost two truckloads of copper cathodes, valued at approximately $282,000. Plaintiff alleged the warehousing company caused the loads to be lost or stolen, rather than releasing them to the appropriate carrier. Plaintiff had alleged in a prior lawsuit pertaining to the same shipments that the loads were released to the appropriate carrier, and the carrier lost the loads in transit. The Court granted summary judgment to the warehousing company based on the doctrine of judicial estoppel, which bars a Plaintiff from recovery after obtaining a judgment in a prior lawsuit over the same loss but based on a contrary set of facts.