Jeff Featherstun has focused on insurance coverage and environmental law for nearly two decades.  Jeff worked on a series of groundbreaking coverage cases that helped make Indiana probably the most favorable jurisdiction for policyholders facing environmental liabilities.  This work played an important role in enabling hundreds of millions of dollars in environmental cleanups across the country.  He also has significant experience with other types of business insurance claims, including products liability, misappropriation of intellectual property and unfair competition.

Jeff’s environmental law practice has included litigating a number of issues of first impression under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA, the Superfund statute), the Indiana Underground Storage Tank Act (USTA), the Indiana Environmental Liability Act (ELA) and many common law remedies.

His practice frequently combines these two areas, helping clients both address the environmental liability and recover the insurance funds necessary to pay for the cleanup.  Similarly, Jeff has led efforts in a number of bankruptcy cases to apply liability insurance proceeds to the debtor's environmental obligations. In addition to his extensive litigation experience in the area of environmental coverage, Jeff has successfully represented policyholders in the areas of coverage for products liability, product recalls and mass torts, advertising injury and intellectual property, disaster recovery, health insurance and many other types of insurance disputes.

Through these matters, Jeff has had the opportunity to work with some of the world’s largest corporations, as well as many smaller businesses, municipalities and individuals.

Jeff has worked on more than 30 state and federal appeals.  Groundbreaking decisions include Cooper Indus., LLC v. City of South Bend, 899 N.E.2d 1274 (Ind. 2009) (environmental law), Travelers Indem. Co. v. Summit Corp. of Am., 715 N.E.2d 926 (Ind. Ct. App. 1999) (environmental insurance coverage) and Shell Oil Co. v. Meyer, 705 N.E.2d 962 (Ind. 1998) (environmental law).  A 2010 case, State Auto. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Flexdar, Inc., 937 N.E.2d 1203 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010), was listed by Mealey’s Litigation Report: Insurance, a national publication, as one of the 10 most significant insurance coverage decisions for that year.

Jeff is co-author of “Environmental Law Developments: Focus on Brownfields – Overcoming Historical Environmental Problems,” 38 Indiana Law Review, Volume 36, Issue 5 (2005).  He also is ranked as an Indiana “Super Lawyer” in the area of insurance coverage by Thomson Reuters and has been awarded an AV-Preeminent Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating.  He is frequent a speaker before legal, trade association & business groups, including the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum’s “masters” seminar series.  Jeff also authors Outside of My Environment, a blog about environmental and insurnace coverage law and public policy.
 
Jeff received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1992.  He received a B.A. (history) with high distinction from Indiana University-Bloomington in 1989 and attended the Southern Methodist University honors scholars program from 1985 to 1987. 

Jeff was elected managing partner for 2010-11.  He has been a partner for 11 years and has been with the firm since graduating from law school.