Bradley J. Vance

Bradley J. Vance, Partner in the Firm’s Philadelphia Office and Chair of the Insurance Practices Group, concentrates his practice in the areas of bad faith, products liability, construction litigation, professional negligence, premises liability and insurance coverage. He has tried both jury and non-jury cases across multiple counties in Pennsylvania, and routinely tries cases in state courts in Pennsylvania and the Eastern and Middle District of Pennsylvania Federal Courts. He has been called upon to provide coverage opinions on a wide array of coverage issues and topics for both first-party and third-party claims. He has also represented insurance companies and claims administrators in class action litigation in various state courts and the Eastern and Middle District of Pennsylvania Federal Courts.

Mr. Vance represents various insurance carriers in bad faith litigation in both state and federal courts, where he has tried bad faith cases to successful conclusion in the United States Federal Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. Mr. Vance represents insurance carriers in large, complex uninsured and underinsured motorist arbitration matters, and also represents various companies and entities in complex commercial litigation. 

Mr. Vance currently represents various product manufacturers and retail distributors in cases involving potential verdicts in excess of $10 million.

Some of Mr. Vance’s more recent, and more notable, representative matters include:

• Successfully obtained an order and opinion of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirming summary judgment in favor of his client, Farmland Mutual Insurance Company. Plaintiffs sustained catastrophic injuries during an automobile accident and sought $1 million in underinsured motorist benefits. Mr. Vance successfully argued that the insured should only have to pay $35,000, the amount that was elected on the application, pursuant to the requirements of the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law Section 1734.
• Successfully defended a commercial property owner in a case in Philadelphia County in which the pretrial demand was $6.5 million. After a two week trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of his client. In a case in which joint tortfeasor principles would have made his client responsible for the entire verdict of $2 million, the jury returned a verdict finding Mr. Vance’s client was not negligent. 
• Successfully defended a Philadelphia-based pool service company against claims that Plaintiff suffered serious injuries resulting from an explosion in an underground pool and separate underground bunker, in which the pool’s mechanicals and propane tank were located. It was alleged that the explosion resulted from a combination of storing the pool’s equipment, along with propane gas, in an area which was prone to flooding, rendering the underground bunker dangerous.  While the claim centered on an alleged duty to warn the property owners of the dangerous conditions, Mr. Vance successfully obtained a Demurrer, resulting in the dismissal of all claims against our client. 
• Recently obtained dismissal of his insurance agent client through summary judgment on all claims of professional negligence. 
• Represented a local company in a class action involving a large industrial fire, with alleged damages that exceed $100 million. 
• Successfully represented a local company in a complex commercial matter in a three-week trial which had a multi-million dollar pretrial demand. 
• Defeated class certification in a multi-million dollar claim arising under the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law. 

A 1990 graduate of The Dickinson School of Law, Mr. Vance received the prestigious Order of the Barristers Award for excellence in courtroom advocacy. In his second year of law school, he was a member of the National Champion Wagner Labor Law Appellate Moot Court Team.